Le Vendredi 12 Décembre 2008 Mise en ligne à 1h03 Commentaires (27)
Publié dans la catégorie God Bless America
Le Sénat américain a décidé de ne pas aider financièrement Ford, Chrysler et GM, qui réclamaient des milliards afin de pouvoir finir l’année. Aider Détroit ? L’idée donne la nausée, surtout que le modèle d’affaires des grands de l’auto semble avoir été, depuis des années, de fabriquer de gros bazous hautement énergivores mais hautement profitables pour les trois géants de l’auto (GM, Ford et Chrysler). C’était une vision à court terme et, désormais, ils en paient le prix. Constat : GM, Ford et Chrysler n’ont, d’un strict point de vue d’affaires, qu’eux-mêmes à blâmer. Et, en accord avec la vision d’un marché capitaliste souverain, omniscient et tout-puissant, ils devraient maintenant crever de leur belle mort.
Mais la vie, et les marchés, c’est un peu plus compliqué. Laisser GM, Ford et Chrysler mourir peut peut-être satisfaire des législateurs idéologues, mais le décès risque d’entraîner des conséquences épouvantables pour l’économie américaine. En plus des employés du « Bif Three », il y a toutes ces compagnies qui dépendent d’elles pour survivre, les compagnies qui fournissent pièces et services aux trois géants. Des centaines de milliers de personnes.
Texte de Cybepresse, ici.
Bref, la Bourse va plonger, aujourd’hui.
Pierre Duhamel recense les mauvaises nouvelles. Attachez vos tuques.
Thomas Friedman, dans sa plus récente chronique, avant la décision du Sénat, semblait penser que donner de l’argent à Détroit est du gaspillage :
Do not expect this innovation to come out of Detroit. Remember, in 1908, the Ford Model-T got better mileage — 25 miles per gallon — than many Ford, G.M. and Chrysler models made in 2008. But don’t be surprised when it comes out of somewhere else. It can be done. It will be done. If we miss the chance to win the race for Car 2.0 because we keep mindlessly bailing out Car 1.0, there will be no one to blame more than Detroit’s new shareholders: we the taxpayers.
Friedman était, néanmoins, inquiet devant la perspective d’une faillite des grands de l’auto, le 12 novembre dernier :
I am as terrified as anyone of the domino effect on industry and workers if G.M. were to collapse. But if we are going to use taxpayer money to rescue Detroit, then it should be done along the lines proposed in The Wall Street Journal on Monday by Paul Ingrassia, a former Detroit bureau chief for that paper.
“In return for any direct government aid,” he wrote, “the board and the management [of G.M.] should go. Shareholders should lose their paltry remaining equity. And a government-appointed receiver — someone hard-nosed and nonpolitical — should have broad power to revamp G.M. with a viable business plan and return it to a private operation as soon as possible. That will mean tearing up existing contracts with unions, dealers and suppliers, closing some operations and selling others and downsizing the company … Giving G.M. a blank check — which the company and the United Auto Workers union badly want, and which Washington will be tempted to grant — would be an enormous mistake.”
Nous en sommes là.
AJOUT : Texte du Globe and Mail, ce matin, qui parle de l’appui des démocrates et de l’opposition des républicains au plan de sauvetage. Le Parti républicain voulait des concessions des syndicats, sur la question des salaires et de la caisse de retraite, notamment. Extrait :
The political battle over the auto bailout has also exposed a growing geographic rift between Democrats and Republicans. Auto jobs are heavily concentrated in the U.S. Midwest, which voted heavily Democratic in the November election.
Republican opposition to the bailout is also crassly political. Most of the Asian and European car makers now have plants in the south and southwest staunchly Republican states. These plants are all non-union, and their workers earn lower wages, pensions and benefits than workers at the Detroit Three.
Friday, December 12, 2008
Monday, November 17, 2008
Ontario value-added and bioenergy conferences target wood supply
Friday Nov 07, 2008
By the Working Forest staff
Prior said the purpose of the forum was to promote the development of a strong forest product value-added industry in Northern Ontario.
Two October conferences in Ontario were held in Ottawa and Thunder Bay. Focused on bioenergy and value added forest products, respectively; issues around available wood supply were prevalent at both venues.
CanBIO’s October 6-8 conference in Ottawa testified to rapid industry momentum in 2008. Presentations were heard from president Doug Bradley and directors, Chris Rees, Dean Johnson, Mark Ryans of FP Innovations, John Swaan Wood Pellets Assoc., Rob Cormier, and others.
Ontario Power Generation (OPG) Program Manager for the Northwest and CanBIO Director, Jane Todd, told the 200-strong crowd that the province’s major power utility is intensively testing biomass to ready itself should the Province decide to convert the coal-fuelled plants to biomass.
From just one biomass-testing program at its Nanticoke plant last year, OPG is now in the throes of an "aggressive testing program in all of our plants." The utility is thrilled with the results so far.
"Last year the Atikokan plant had never put a wood pellet in their plant," said Todd, "but by July of this year it had burned 100 percent wood pellets for four hours. We can’t believe how easy it was."
Large co-generation isn’t the only area making big strides this year. Communities in Quebec are working co-operatively to develop bioenergy to boost a slowing forest economy.
Many of the Finnish companies in the trade show followed the conference with side-trips to Matapédia, Temiscaming and Ville Marie in Quebec and Hearst in Ontario to help these communities move forward with bioenergy solutions.
An issue that was always in the background at the conference was access to the forest on public lands. In the closing panel discussion, Christopher Rees of VisionPower Canada Inc. spoke of the need to open the debate on access to biomass for bioenergy projects – particularly those initiated by communities and small/medium sized industry players.
Twenty-five tradeshow exhibitors from Canada, Ireland, Finland, Sweden, and the U.S. demonstrated the latest technologies and equipment.
Abitibi-Bowater’s co-generation plant in Hull, Quebec, a biomass harvesting and processing operation, Camionnage Normand Sans-Cartier, and Plasco’s waste-to-energy demonstration plant in Ottawa were popular study tours.
In mid October the Valhalla Inn in Thunder Bay hosted the Growing Forest Value conference. The 200+ attendees heard speakers ranging from Ian de la Roche, president and CEO of FP Innovations, the Ontario Minister of Natural Resources, Donna Cansfield and Peter Woodbridge, president of Woodbridge Associates covering topics ranging from global market opportunities to entrepreneurial success stories.
In her luncheon address, Minister Cansfield touched on wood supply concerns saying that the OMNR "would access fibre as needed" in addressing concerns from small and medium value-added enterprises.
"Attendance was beyond our expectation," said Rick Prior, Director of Development at Northwestern Ontario Innovation Centre and one of the organizers of the forum.
"We had participants coming from all over the country and select parts of the world."
Showcased over the two days of scheduled events were successful businesses from across Canada and the world that produce value added products such as disposable wood cutlery (see page 9).
Also present were industry experts and political leaders promoting the benefits of diversifying the Ontario forest product industry.
Prior said value-added industries would act as a buffer during harsh economic times not unlike the ones the industry is currently suffering."If we had more value added in the north, and similar economic situations happen in the future, we may not be hit as hard as the value added industry has not been as badly hit elsewhere," said Prior.
"If we intend to live through the down times in the future more prosperously then we need to think about how we are going about using our forests."
Prior said enough interest has been shown to organize another such forum in the future.
"It was an excellent forum for networking between those who have an interest in a value added industry and those that have and can facilitate it," said Prior.
By the Working Forest staff
Prior said the purpose of the forum was to promote the development of a strong forest product value-added industry in Northern Ontario.
Two October conferences in Ontario were held in Ottawa and Thunder Bay. Focused on bioenergy and value added forest products, respectively; issues around available wood supply were prevalent at both venues.
CanBIO’s October 6-8 conference in Ottawa testified to rapid industry momentum in 2008. Presentations were heard from president Doug Bradley and directors, Chris Rees, Dean Johnson, Mark Ryans of FP Innovations, John Swaan Wood Pellets Assoc., Rob Cormier, and others.
Ontario Power Generation (OPG) Program Manager for the Northwest and CanBIO Director, Jane Todd, told the 200-strong crowd that the province’s major power utility is intensively testing biomass to ready itself should the Province decide to convert the coal-fuelled plants to biomass.
From just one biomass-testing program at its Nanticoke plant last year, OPG is now in the throes of an "aggressive testing program in all of our plants." The utility is thrilled with the results so far.
"Last year the Atikokan plant had never put a wood pellet in their plant," said Todd, "but by July of this year it had burned 100 percent wood pellets for four hours. We can’t believe how easy it was."
Large co-generation isn’t the only area making big strides this year. Communities in Quebec are working co-operatively to develop bioenergy to boost a slowing forest economy.
Many of the Finnish companies in the trade show followed the conference with side-trips to Matapédia, Temiscaming and Ville Marie in Quebec and Hearst in Ontario to help these communities move forward with bioenergy solutions.
An issue that was always in the background at the conference was access to the forest on public lands. In the closing panel discussion, Christopher Rees of VisionPower Canada Inc. spoke of the need to open the debate on access to biomass for bioenergy projects – particularly those initiated by communities and small/medium sized industry players.
Twenty-five tradeshow exhibitors from Canada, Ireland, Finland, Sweden, and the U.S. demonstrated the latest technologies and equipment.
Abitibi-Bowater’s co-generation plant in Hull, Quebec, a biomass harvesting and processing operation, Camionnage Normand Sans-Cartier, and Plasco’s waste-to-energy demonstration plant in Ottawa were popular study tours.
In mid October the Valhalla Inn in Thunder Bay hosted the Growing Forest Value conference. The 200+ attendees heard speakers ranging from Ian de la Roche, president and CEO of FP Innovations, the Ontario Minister of Natural Resources, Donna Cansfield and Peter Woodbridge, president of Woodbridge Associates covering topics ranging from global market opportunities to entrepreneurial success stories.
In her luncheon address, Minister Cansfield touched on wood supply concerns saying that the OMNR "would access fibre as needed" in addressing concerns from small and medium value-added enterprises.
"Attendance was beyond our expectation," said Rick Prior, Director of Development at Northwestern Ontario Innovation Centre and one of the organizers of the forum.
"We had participants coming from all over the country and select parts of the world."
Showcased over the two days of scheduled events were successful businesses from across Canada and the world that produce value added products such as disposable wood cutlery (see page 9).
Also present were industry experts and political leaders promoting the benefits of diversifying the Ontario forest product industry.
Prior said value-added industries would act as a buffer during harsh economic times not unlike the ones the industry is currently suffering."If we had more value added in the north, and similar economic situations happen in the future, we may not be hit as hard as the value added industry has not been as badly hit elsewhere," said Prior.
"If we intend to live through the down times in the future more prosperously then we need to think about how we are going about using our forests."
Prior said enough interest has been shown to organize another such forum in the future.
"It was an excellent forum for networking between those who have an interest in a value added industry and those that have and can facilitate it," said Prior.
Monday, November 3, 2008
Developping a Sustainable Development Plan
Hearst is in the process of putting together a sustainable development plan. This plan will define out future for the next generations and enable us to collectively make our community a better place to live, play and work. For the next forteen months the community will be asked to speak on a number of issues we are faced with today. Our economy, our resources, our future, our children, our town. Inlight of this process I have included the recommendations that were developped during the BioCom innitiative. Have a good reading and please call me me if you have any questions.
Reflections on the Bio-Com Initiative
We believe that the Bio-Com project made a difference in our community. It is difficult to demonstrate and quantify what were the overall impacts of the project and this may not be achievable. Nevertheless, Bio-Com initiated community debates and reflections on several aspects in our community:
A reflection on our history and what has changed since;
Awareness regarding the global situation with an emphasis on the environmental aspects;
Awareness regarding the decline of the forest industry sector;
Prompted curiosity and introduced some leads regarding potential solutions;
Receptivity with regard to pride – people like to be part of something different, to lead the way, to be in front.
Changing attitudes and values is a long term process. During the Bio-Com project, an impressive number of activities took place. They all led to a more resiliency community. New relationships and new ways of approaching situations were brought forward by Bio-Com.
As evidenced by the number of projects being pursued, the new bio-economy is at the centre of Hearst’s development efforts. Bio-Com has enabled the community to become part of these projects which are a continuation of this momentum:
The proposed green technology center;
Sustainable development plan for the municipality;
Food production cooperative;
And others…..
It is understood that the work is not completed. The community, its leaders and champions need to maintain this driving force towards change.
The Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities approved this innovative project hoping that it could make a difference. The Hearst Economic Development Corporation believes that the project did make a difference and that it was efforts and money well invested.
Recommendations on Areas of Focus
As a community we need to pay more attention to key areas of focus to create an innovative cornerstone community for the world of tomorrow.
It is really up to us, the community, to ensure that our wealth of human and natural resources is used to sustain and enhance our lifestyle, to create interesting career paths for our youth and to ensure that our development is socially, environmentally, and economically sustainable.
The goal is to have a healthy sustainable community.
The road to a healthy sustainable community will start with the development of a clear community vision. Key elements will also be required to achieve a constant progression towards this vision.
The Development of a Clear Community Vision
The community vision needs to be well communicated to all our citizens and everyone in the community must participate in the progression towards this vision.
Who should lead: Community based organizations & individuals
How: Finalize a community vision and communicate to all our citizens
When: in 2008
Key Elements required:
1 - Increasing Citizen Involvement and Participation
Every citizen must participate and get involve. This is not a project of a few individuals. We all have a role in the process and we must share the responsibilities for the evolution of our community.
Who should lead: Every citizen of our community
How: Become actively involve, participate and take responsibility
When: In 2008
2 – Demonstrating Leadership
Our leaders and champions must standout even more, develop a collaborative approach, and show the way to ensure a progression towards the vision.
Who should lead: Community based organizations & individuals
How: Bring together a group of champions and leaders composed of 15 – 25 people
When: In 2008
3 – Improving Community Resilience
Hearst has demonstrated resiliency in the past. This resiliency needs to continue and be developed further. A different and/or improved community model could increase community resiliency.
Who should lead: Community based organizations & individuals
How: Bring together a group that will develop a different and/or improved community model
When: In 2008
4 – Rethinking the Use of Our Natural Resources
We need to re-think our forest and how we can better focus on the production of tomorrow’s value-added products using all available biomass and plants. All natural resources also needs to be utilized using a vision of maximizing its potential for value-added. We must be at the forefront of future changes.
Who should lead: Community based organizations & individuals
How: Bring together key players, existing and new, that will develop local strategies
When: In 2008
5 – Capacity Building Towards Innovation & Education
Capacity building has to become a focal point of our development. Innovation is required in our community from all fronts. As a community, we need to think outside the box and been aware of our real potential. A dynamic environment for innovation and human capital capacity building must be in place.
Who should lead: Community based organizations & individuals
How: Bring together the educational instances and look at how this dynamic environment can be created
When: In 2008
6 – Increasing the Numbers of Entrepreneurs
More entrepreneurs are required within our community. Hearst is home to very successful entrepreneurs but we need to continue this trend and develop it even more. Strategies and actions must be in place to also develop local entrepreneurs and attract new ones.
Who should lead: Community based organizations & individuals
How: Strategies in place for development and attraction of entrepreneurs.
When: In 2008
7 – Paying attention to our Youth
We must pay greater attention to our youth. Strategies and actions must be in place to inform, involve, and attract youth. Youth must be aware of the existing and future opportunities that exist in our community. We need to remain in touch with our youth that is leaving.
Who should lead: Community based organizations & individuals
How: Strategies in place
When: In 2008
Acknowledgements
To the strategic working group
To the Mayor of the Town of Hearst
To individuals that have assisted
To the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities
To collaborating organizations
And to all the several others ……
Reflections on the Bio-Com Initiative
We believe that the Bio-Com project made a difference in our community. It is difficult to demonstrate and quantify what were the overall impacts of the project and this may not be achievable. Nevertheless, Bio-Com initiated community debates and reflections on several aspects in our community:
A reflection on our history and what has changed since;
Awareness regarding the global situation with an emphasis on the environmental aspects;
Awareness regarding the decline of the forest industry sector;
Prompted curiosity and introduced some leads regarding potential solutions;
Receptivity with regard to pride – people like to be part of something different, to lead the way, to be in front.
Changing attitudes and values is a long term process. During the Bio-Com project, an impressive number of activities took place. They all led to a more resiliency community. New relationships and new ways of approaching situations were brought forward by Bio-Com.
As evidenced by the number of projects being pursued, the new bio-economy is at the centre of Hearst’s development efforts. Bio-Com has enabled the community to become part of these projects which are a continuation of this momentum:
The proposed green technology center;
Sustainable development plan for the municipality;
Food production cooperative;
And others…..
It is understood that the work is not completed. The community, its leaders and champions need to maintain this driving force towards change.
The Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities approved this innovative project hoping that it could make a difference. The Hearst Economic Development Corporation believes that the project did make a difference and that it was efforts and money well invested.
Recommendations on Areas of Focus
As a community we need to pay more attention to key areas of focus to create an innovative cornerstone community for the world of tomorrow.
It is really up to us, the community, to ensure that our wealth of human and natural resources is used to sustain and enhance our lifestyle, to create interesting career paths for our youth and to ensure that our development is socially, environmentally, and economically sustainable.
The goal is to have a healthy sustainable community.
The road to a healthy sustainable community will start with the development of a clear community vision. Key elements will also be required to achieve a constant progression towards this vision.
The Development of a Clear Community Vision
The community vision needs to be well communicated to all our citizens and everyone in the community must participate in the progression towards this vision.
Who should lead: Community based organizations & individuals
How: Finalize a community vision and communicate to all our citizens
When: in 2008
Key Elements required:
1 - Increasing Citizen Involvement and Participation
Every citizen must participate and get involve. This is not a project of a few individuals. We all have a role in the process and we must share the responsibilities for the evolution of our community.
Who should lead: Every citizen of our community
How: Become actively involve, participate and take responsibility
When: In 2008
2 – Demonstrating Leadership
Our leaders and champions must standout even more, develop a collaborative approach, and show the way to ensure a progression towards the vision.
Who should lead: Community based organizations & individuals
How: Bring together a group of champions and leaders composed of 15 – 25 people
When: In 2008
3 – Improving Community Resilience
Hearst has demonstrated resiliency in the past. This resiliency needs to continue and be developed further. A different and/or improved community model could increase community resiliency.
Who should lead: Community based organizations & individuals
How: Bring together a group that will develop a different and/or improved community model
When: In 2008
4 – Rethinking the Use of Our Natural Resources
We need to re-think our forest and how we can better focus on the production of tomorrow’s value-added products using all available biomass and plants. All natural resources also needs to be utilized using a vision of maximizing its potential for value-added. We must be at the forefront of future changes.
Who should lead: Community based organizations & individuals
How: Bring together key players, existing and new, that will develop local strategies
When: In 2008
5 – Capacity Building Towards Innovation & Education
Capacity building has to become a focal point of our development. Innovation is required in our community from all fronts. As a community, we need to think outside the box and been aware of our real potential. A dynamic environment for innovation and human capital capacity building must be in place.
Who should lead: Community based organizations & individuals
How: Bring together the educational instances and look at how this dynamic environment can be created
When: In 2008
6 – Increasing the Numbers of Entrepreneurs
More entrepreneurs are required within our community. Hearst is home to very successful entrepreneurs but we need to continue this trend and develop it even more. Strategies and actions must be in place to also develop local entrepreneurs and attract new ones.
Who should lead: Community based organizations & individuals
How: Strategies in place for development and attraction of entrepreneurs.
When: In 2008
7 – Paying attention to our Youth
We must pay greater attention to our youth. Strategies and actions must be in place to inform, involve, and attract youth. Youth must be aware of the existing and future opportunities that exist in our community. We need to remain in touch with our youth that is leaving.
Who should lead: Community based organizations & individuals
How: Strategies in place
When: In 2008
Acknowledgements
To the strategic working group
To the Mayor of the Town of Hearst
To individuals that have assisted
To the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities
To collaborating organizations
And to all the several others ……
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
The Living Building Conference 2008
Daniel Sigouin - October 21st, 2008
I will be participating along with Stéphane Lapointe our Sustainable Community Coordinator at the living building conference to be held this week at Cambrain College in Sudbury. Our participation is part of developing a sustainable development plan for the community of Hearst. In addition we will be promoting our Green Technology Center. See conference information below.
From the web site http://www.cambriancollege.ca/energy/conference/
The Living Building Conference, Workshops and Product Show will be held at Cambrian College on October 23, 24 and 25, 2008.
Conference Overview
The three-day conference, hosted by Cambrian College, will focus on Living Building Retrofits; the idea of using technologies to move current building and renovation practices along the path of sustainability. Together, we will strive to influence current practices, so that energy efficiency and conservation become standard procedure when building or renovating structures.
As prices for energy continue to rise, homeowners will not only require, but they will demand technologies that conserve energy. The conference will serve to inspire architects, developers, and builders to take advantage of the rising demand. It will prepare them for the paradigm shift in how we will look at housing. Over the course of the three-day conference, attendees will take in thought-provoking lectures from influential speakers, receive valuable hands-on training at the workshops, get the chance to acquire essential certification training, and have the opportunity to interact with local vendors at the tradeshow
I will be participating along with Stéphane Lapointe our Sustainable Community Coordinator at the living building conference to be held this week at Cambrain College in Sudbury. Our participation is part of developing a sustainable development plan for the community of Hearst. In addition we will be promoting our Green Technology Center. See conference information below.
From the web site http://www.cambriancollege.ca/energy/conference/
The Living Building Conference, Workshops and Product Show will be held at Cambrian College on October 23, 24 and 25, 2008.
Conference Overview
The three-day conference, hosted by Cambrian College, will focus on Living Building Retrofits; the idea of using technologies to move current building and renovation practices along the path of sustainability. Together, we will strive to influence current practices, so that energy efficiency and conservation become standard procedure when building or renovating structures.
As prices for energy continue to rise, homeowners will not only require, but they will demand technologies that conserve energy. The conference will serve to inspire architects, developers, and builders to take advantage of the rising demand. It will prepare them for the paradigm shift in how we will look at housing. Over the course of the three-day conference, attendees will take in thought-provoking lectures from influential speakers, receive valuable hands-on training at the workshops, get the chance to acquire essential certification training, and have the opportunity to interact with local vendors at the tradeshow
The Process of Redefining a Town
Columbia Institue's Centre for Civic Governance, 2008
INNOVATION STRATEGIES Series Volume 1, Ideas for Sustainable Communities
By: Katrina Carrara is a councillor in the Town of Hearst; she holds a Master’s degree in health studies and has been active in a number of community organizations.
Hearst
This is a story of local people who are talking responsibility for their preferred future. In Hearst, we are in the process of redefining our town and creating a resilient and sustainable community. This redefinition process balances economic viability, the well-being of the community, and the environment. It is also a carefully thought-out process that involves planning, action, and organization.
In northern Ontario, we have a few dominant characteristics, notably declining demographics. More people are moving away and it’s often the younger people. The relative and absolute numbers of aging people are increasing and the young workforce is leaving. Amid uncertain world commodity markets, many communities depend on one market or one source of income. In the case of Hearst, the source is the forest industry. In Ontario and elsewhere environmental concerns are at their peak. Any revitalization strategy has to take into account both economic and environmental concerns.
In Hearst we gave smaller population with a large number of older people.
Two thirds of people are over the age of 50
We have declining youth participation in activities and many shops are closing. We are dependent on one industry with a strong outside ownership. Twenty years ago, our three mills were locally owned and they were based on community values. Now they are owned by outside agencies where the trend is to consolidate. There is a limited range of jobs.
Waiting for a saviour
As our problems worsened, people seemed to be waiting for someone to come in and save them. There was a lot of negativity and resistance to change. The fact was that the status quo was no longer working. We could no longer sit and wait for the pulp, paper, and wood-working industries to revitalize our growth. Do we wait and hope or do we take action? In this situation, we have the opportunity to shape and channel our future as a community. The key in smaller communities that hold strong family values, like the francophone community in Hearst, is to keep a firm grasp on our beliefs and values even as we try to adapt to a new environment.
Being in a small community that is both rural and isolated, we trend to believe that what happens in China or other countries doesn’t affect us. But as you know, everything in the global economy will eventually affect us. Small communities often feel that they cannot compete on the global marker they just let go – they need to regroup and find a way to face the global situation that is here to stay.
Our process of change had a catalyst. We knew the forest industry was suffering, so when we for a proposal from a foreign company for an ethanol plant in Hearst that would use wood chips, that proposal among people in the town. Unfortunately that project was put on hold when the company ran into problem and the council became concerned. Yet, this potential ethanol plant was one of the catalysts for the need to take action and change our community.
We say that a healthy economy was based on our forest heritage and the development of natural resources and sustainable secondary business sectors. Twenty years ago, out three mills were locally owned and they were based on community values. Now they are owned by outside agencies.
Redefining ourselves
We started redefining ourselves starting with Perspective 20/20, our economic strategy. Although the analysis was traditional and limited, we used environmental scans and we insisted on using a community approach and focus. The community knows best what it needs, even though it may have trouble organizing itself.
We saw that a healthy economy was based on our forest heritage and the development of natural resources and sustainable secondary business sectors. If the lumber industry is suffering, we need to look at other alternatives. We need to diversify. We have to do the SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) analysis, starting with our strengths. Locally, one of our strengths is that we’re right in the middle of the boreal forest industry. We have access to wood, we have a strong labour of force, and we have opportunities to develop partnerships with native communities.
Some of the weaknesses of our situation include a negative attitude to change. Fear makes us less creative. We have low quality fibre and there are dangers from new competitive industries such as wood substitutes.
In my work I looked at development strategies with wood products and I concentrated on secondary wood products. Once the tree had been cut down there is a lot of biomass or wood chips left over. Could we use that biomass?
Our strategy
We looked at several things in our strategy. We wanted to maintain the growth that we had in the three mills. We recognized the need to collaborate with governments at the provincial and federal levels, as well as with private industry. To prepare the community for change, we came up with a project called Bio-Com, which is about building sustainable community in terms of environment, the social needs of the community, and the economy. Bio-Com is about changing attitudes and values towards the bio-economy. Bio-Com looks at developing products from biomass and biology, while maintaining communication with the community.
One of the biggest projects that we’re working on is a pilot project with Natural Resources Canada (NRCAN) and other partners. We’re developing a genetically modified willow tree that grows in three years. We could use that as an energy source, or to produce something else. We’re networking and getting involved in new developments in the forest industry. The first phase of our work concentrated on disseminating information about change. To deal with resistance to change, we have to acknowledge that things are not working well presently. We used different techniques to generate ideas. The three main areas that we’re looking at and developing for our economy are adding value in cultivating products that come from the foresee for medicine, personal care, as well as for decorative purposes and gardening. There is our biomass that is eventually going to be a source of energy. We also have value-added fibre products that can be used to build other products.
To prepare the community for change, we came up with a project called Bio-Com, which is about building a sustainable community in terms of the environment, the social needs of the community, and the economy.
We set up a steering committee that involved experts on economic development, the business sector, the forest industry, citizens, and people from the ministry of natural resources. We developed a structure and disseminated information through newspaper and radio about new economic alternatives we could look at. We shared information to promote creative thinking among people.
We held community forums with different segments of the population, including young students and the senior population, to get an idea where the community wanted to go and what issues were concerning them. We met with educational institutions to see if they could deliver programs that relate to the environment, energy, and forestry, and we held workshops and a roundtable on regional politics.
We had a major conference on sustainability in April 2007, with forest industry people, private industry, and government, environmentalist, and community residents. The focus was to shake people up, make them uncomfortable, and give them the tools and information to get them to look at alternatives. That was phase one, which ended that month, and it is difficult to measure the outcomes, which may be more qualitative than quantitative.
Recommendations came up last January on six key area of focus for the community:
Vision and leadership;
Community resilience;
The forest of tomorrow;
Innovation and education;
Entrepreneurship;
Youth; and
Assessment
It may also be too early to assess the effectiveness of these efforts. The contacts and networking we have begun may not produce tangible results for another year or so. We have met the goal of promoting and working collaboratively. So where do we go now?
Citizens are expecting brick and mortar; they want to see new factories. This is not what they will see short term with our approach. Some are disappointed. This approach works with attitudes and values that will lead to long term sustainability by enabling every citizen to participate and get involve. We are not used to this approach. It is a long term process towards sustainability. We can no longer put band-aids on situations we need to take control of our future.
There are number of key elements one must consider when looking at redefining a community. One is accepting that there’s change involved. Change can be seen as a three-stage process, starting with resistance. The community needs to be able to voice its fears and anxieties.
It is important to highlight the opportunities that are coming up. Open up your mind, and be creative. Communities can begin to move in one direction, but remember that some flexibility is needed. In strategic planning, preparatory work is needed to see the way ahead. Local leaders and leadership need to be established, because they have to be a community’s biggest renewable resource.
This activity had given us in Hearst a clearer vision. I have found that people’s anxiety level has diminished. We are starting on phase two of the project, which involves making an inventory of our assets, the resources and the human resources that we have in the community. And we continue to work on networking with secondary value-added industries.
INNOVATION STRATEGIES Series Volume 1, Ideas for Sustainable Communities
By: Katrina Carrara is a councillor in the Town of Hearst; she holds a Master’s degree in health studies and has been active in a number of community organizations.
Hearst
This is a story of local people who are talking responsibility for their preferred future. In Hearst, we are in the process of redefining our town and creating a resilient and sustainable community. This redefinition process balances economic viability, the well-being of the community, and the environment. It is also a carefully thought-out process that involves planning, action, and organization.
In northern Ontario, we have a few dominant characteristics, notably declining demographics. More people are moving away and it’s often the younger people. The relative and absolute numbers of aging people are increasing and the young workforce is leaving. Amid uncertain world commodity markets, many communities depend on one market or one source of income. In the case of Hearst, the source is the forest industry. In Ontario and elsewhere environmental concerns are at their peak. Any revitalization strategy has to take into account both economic and environmental concerns.
In Hearst we gave smaller population with a large number of older people.
Two thirds of people are over the age of 50
We have declining youth participation in activities and many shops are closing. We are dependent on one industry with a strong outside ownership. Twenty years ago, our three mills were locally owned and they were based on community values. Now they are owned by outside agencies where the trend is to consolidate. There is a limited range of jobs.
Waiting for a saviour
As our problems worsened, people seemed to be waiting for someone to come in and save them. There was a lot of negativity and resistance to change. The fact was that the status quo was no longer working. We could no longer sit and wait for the pulp, paper, and wood-working industries to revitalize our growth. Do we wait and hope or do we take action? In this situation, we have the opportunity to shape and channel our future as a community. The key in smaller communities that hold strong family values, like the francophone community in Hearst, is to keep a firm grasp on our beliefs and values even as we try to adapt to a new environment.
Being in a small community that is both rural and isolated, we trend to believe that what happens in China or other countries doesn’t affect us. But as you know, everything in the global economy will eventually affect us. Small communities often feel that they cannot compete on the global marker they just let go – they need to regroup and find a way to face the global situation that is here to stay.
Our process of change had a catalyst. We knew the forest industry was suffering, so when we for a proposal from a foreign company for an ethanol plant in Hearst that would use wood chips, that proposal among people in the town. Unfortunately that project was put on hold when the company ran into problem and the council became concerned. Yet, this potential ethanol plant was one of the catalysts for the need to take action and change our community.
We say that a healthy economy was based on our forest heritage and the development of natural resources and sustainable secondary business sectors. Twenty years ago, out three mills were locally owned and they were based on community values. Now they are owned by outside agencies.
Redefining ourselves
We started redefining ourselves starting with Perspective 20/20, our economic strategy. Although the analysis was traditional and limited, we used environmental scans and we insisted on using a community approach and focus. The community knows best what it needs, even though it may have trouble organizing itself.
We saw that a healthy economy was based on our forest heritage and the development of natural resources and sustainable secondary business sectors. If the lumber industry is suffering, we need to look at other alternatives. We need to diversify. We have to do the SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) analysis, starting with our strengths. Locally, one of our strengths is that we’re right in the middle of the boreal forest industry. We have access to wood, we have a strong labour of force, and we have opportunities to develop partnerships with native communities.
Some of the weaknesses of our situation include a negative attitude to change. Fear makes us less creative. We have low quality fibre and there are dangers from new competitive industries such as wood substitutes.
In my work I looked at development strategies with wood products and I concentrated on secondary wood products. Once the tree had been cut down there is a lot of biomass or wood chips left over. Could we use that biomass?
Our strategy
We looked at several things in our strategy. We wanted to maintain the growth that we had in the three mills. We recognized the need to collaborate with governments at the provincial and federal levels, as well as with private industry. To prepare the community for change, we came up with a project called Bio-Com, which is about building sustainable community in terms of environment, the social needs of the community, and the economy. Bio-Com is about changing attitudes and values towards the bio-economy. Bio-Com looks at developing products from biomass and biology, while maintaining communication with the community.
One of the biggest projects that we’re working on is a pilot project with Natural Resources Canada (NRCAN) and other partners. We’re developing a genetically modified willow tree that grows in three years. We could use that as an energy source, or to produce something else. We’re networking and getting involved in new developments in the forest industry. The first phase of our work concentrated on disseminating information about change. To deal with resistance to change, we have to acknowledge that things are not working well presently. We used different techniques to generate ideas. The three main areas that we’re looking at and developing for our economy are adding value in cultivating products that come from the foresee for medicine, personal care, as well as for decorative purposes and gardening. There is our biomass that is eventually going to be a source of energy. We also have value-added fibre products that can be used to build other products.
To prepare the community for change, we came up with a project called Bio-Com, which is about building a sustainable community in terms of the environment, the social needs of the community, and the economy.
We set up a steering committee that involved experts on economic development, the business sector, the forest industry, citizens, and people from the ministry of natural resources. We developed a structure and disseminated information through newspaper and radio about new economic alternatives we could look at. We shared information to promote creative thinking among people.
We held community forums with different segments of the population, including young students and the senior population, to get an idea where the community wanted to go and what issues were concerning them. We met with educational institutions to see if they could deliver programs that relate to the environment, energy, and forestry, and we held workshops and a roundtable on regional politics.
We had a major conference on sustainability in April 2007, with forest industry people, private industry, and government, environmentalist, and community residents. The focus was to shake people up, make them uncomfortable, and give them the tools and information to get them to look at alternatives. That was phase one, which ended that month, and it is difficult to measure the outcomes, which may be more qualitative than quantitative.
Recommendations came up last January on six key area of focus for the community:
Vision and leadership;
Community resilience;
The forest of tomorrow;
Innovation and education;
Entrepreneurship;
Youth; and
Assessment
It may also be too early to assess the effectiveness of these efforts. The contacts and networking we have begun may not produce tangible results for another year or so. We have met the goal of promoting and working collaboratively. So where do we go now?
Citizens are expecting brick and mortar; they want to see new factories. This is not what they will see short term with our approach. Some are disappointed. This approach works with attitudes and values that will lead to long term sustainability by enabling every citizen to participate and get involve. We are not used to this approach. It is a long term process towards sustainability. We can no longer put band-aids on situations we need to take control of our future.
There are number of key elements one must consider when looking at redefining a community. One is accepting that there’s change involved. Change can be seen as a three-stage process, starting with resistance. The community needs to be able to voice its fears and anxieties.
It is important to highlight the opportunities that are coming up. Open up your mind, and be creative. Communities can begin to move in one direction, but remember that some flexibility is needed. In strategic planning, preparatory work is needed to see the way ahead. Local leaders and leadership need to be established, because they have to be a community’s biggest renewable resource.
This activity had given us in Hearst a clearer vision. I have found that people’s anxiety level has diminished. We are starting on phase two of the project, which involves making an inventory of our assets, the resources and the human resources that we have in the community. And we continue to work on networking with secondary value-added industries.
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
A Finnish Delegation to Visit Area in Search of Opportunities in the Bio Economy
A delegation from Finland interested in looking for opportunities in Northern Ontario in regards to bioeconomy will be visiting the Hearst, Opasatika, Kapuskasing area October 8th and 9th 2008. The tour is organized by the Hearst Economic Development Corporation, the Canadian Bioenergy Association and member communities of the Northeastern Community Network. Local Companies Contractors and Economic Development Officers are invited to come and meet them.
The following companies will be representing the Finnish delegation;
Kesla: offers technology for harvesting, forwarding and chipping of forest energy.
Antti Ranta: offers modern and flexible trailers designed for wood chips/pellets transportation.
Megakone: offers compact size small scale (< 1 MW) biomass boilers and containers (turnkey solutions).
Andritz: offers large scale (> 30 MW) BFB biomass boilers (cogen, industry).
Joensuu Science Park: specialized in joint venture and other project generation.
Wenet: (Wood Energy net) represents, besides the above mentioned, leading Finnish companies, research and training organisations within wood energy offering one-stop-shop solutions in all scale.
Description of the event;
Finnish delegates will arrive at the Kapuskasing Airport at 10:30 am on Wednesday October 8, 2008.
They will be picked up by Daniel Sigouin, Economic Development Officer for Hearst, Paul Nadeau Economic Development Officer for Opasatika and Adèle Bordeleau Economic Development Officer for Kapuskasing. Joining them will be several other delegates and prospective local partners. The bus will leave Kapuskasing and tour area sites including area forest operations, a massive hog fuel pile, a willow plantation and potential bioenergy sites. There will be a lunch stop at the Opasatika community hall. An evening dinner will be organized in Hearst at the Companion Restaurant for networking.
A meeting will start at 8:00 on Thursday Oct 9 at the Knights of Columbus hall in Hearst. There will be short presentations, followed by active discussions. Lunch will be in the meeting.
At 2:00 the meeting breaks up and the Finnish delegation will be driven back to Kapuskasing airport for a 4:00 p.m. flight.
Anyone interested in joining the tour, has to confirm their presence with Martine Fortin at 705‑372‑2841 or by e-mail at hedc@hearst.ca
Media Inquiries
Daniel Sigouin
Hearst Economic Development Corporation
dsigouin@hearst.ca
tel: 705.372.2837
Cell: 705.372.5829
The following companies will be representing the Finnish delegation;
Kesla: offers technology for harvesting, forwarding and chipping of forest energy.
Antti Ranta: offers modern and flexible trailers designed for wood chips/pellets transportation.
Megakone: offers compact size small scale (< 1 MW) biomass boilers and containers (turnkey solutions).
Andritz: offers large scale (> 30 MW) BFB biomass boilers (cogen, industry).
Joensuu Science Park: specialized in joint venture and other project generation.
Wenet: (Wood Energy net) represents, besides the above mentioned, leading Finnish companies, research and training organisations within wood energy offering one-stop-shop solutions in all scale.
Description of the event;
Finnish delegates will arrive at the Kapuskasing Airport at 10:30 am on Wednesday October 8, 2008.
They will be picked up by Daniel Sigouin, Economic Development Officer for Hearst, Paul Nadeau Economic Development Officer for Opasatika and Adèle Bordeleau Economic Development Officer for Kapuskasing. Joining them will be several other delegates and prospective local partners. The bus will leave Kapuskasing and tour area sites including area forest operations, a massive hog fuel pile, a willow plantation and potential bioenergy sites. There will be a lunch stop at the Opasatika community hall. An evening dinner will be organized in Hearst at the Companion Restaurant for networking.
A meeting will start at 8:00 on Thursday Oct 9 at the Knights of Columbus hall in Hearst. There will be short presentations, followed by active discussions. Lunch will be in the meeting.
At 2:00 the meeting breaks up and the Finnish delegation will be driven back to Kapuskasing airport for a 4:00 p.m. flight.
Anyone interested in joining the tour, has to confirm their presence with Martine Fortin at 705‑372‑2841 or by e-mail at hedc@hearst.ca
Media Inquiries
Daniel Sigouin
Hearst Economic Development Corporation
dsigouin@hearst.ca
tel: 705.372.2837
Cell: 705.372.5829
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Eco-friendly and formaldehyde-free
Submitted by Editor on Fri, 09/12/2008 - 10:11.
Tags:
Newsfeed
Date: -->
Friday Sep 12, 2008
By
Elizabeth Rand-Watkinson, Globe & Mail, Sept. 12, 2008
Unless you, like some mussels, have been living under a rock, you will be aware of the growing hullabaloo about VOCs (volatile organic compounds) and how we don't want to be breathing them in. The bad news is, if you've had non-solid wood kitchen cabinets installed recently or purchased furniture made of composite wood products, you may be doing just that.
But there's also good news. Governments and manufacturers have heard the ruckus about VOCs and taken action and, just when you thought you had all the possible options for kitchen cabinet materials nailed, out they come with new ones to confuse everyone. Hence this primer to bring you up to speed and make sense of it all.
It used to be that consumers had two extremes to choose from when they shopped for kitchen cabinets.
The lower-cost options were cabinet components made of either particleboard, medium-density fibreboard (MDF) or plywood. These are all composite wood-panel products traditionally containing glues that, when they come to room temperature, emit VOCs in the form of potentially carcinogenic urea formaldehyde (UF).
At the other end of the price extreme was solid wood, which doesn't have this problem but costs more. Many contractors still tell clients that their choices are "either/or," and urge them to go for the higher-priced wood for various reasons.
Luckily for consumers who don't have the budget for a solid-wood kitchen but who want to avoid VOC emissions, this all changed about three years ago, says David Beattie of Rayette Forest Products, based in Concord, Ont.
That was when Oregon-based Columbia Forest Products introduced PureBond, which Mr. Beattie describes as "a veneer core hardwood plywood made with glue containing zero UF."
This plywood, whose layers are joined by a soy flour-based glue, is one of a growing number of alternatives to products in which UF-emitting glues are used. It was introduced by Columbia ahead of new industry standards in the United States - the toughest there to date - set by the California Air Resources Board (CARB).
The story behind PureBond - and this is where the mussels come in - is rather romantic, although romance isn't something you'd normally associate with plywood either. It seems that an Oregon State University researcher was vacationing along the Pacific Ocean. While sitting on the beach watching the waves pound the shoreline, he noticed clumps of mussels clinging to the rocks. No amount of battering surf could dislodge them.
What are they secreting, he wondered, that allows them to adhere to the rocks so solidly? In short, research into those secretions led to the soybean-based, zero-UF glue used in PureBond plywood.
Columbia Forest Products says using PureBond is cost-neutral when compared with its former UF-emitting panel products. That's despite the large expenditures the company says it has made to develop the product.
This is an important development, romantic beginnings aside, because, according to CARB findings, "The most significant source" of (UF) emissions we face on a daily basis comes from the composite woods in our furnishings and cabinetry.
At this stage, the glues that work in zero-UF plywood aren't being used for particleboard or MDF. Some sources say these adhesives simply don't work with those materials, which have different natures than plywood.
But there is something called "no added" UF particleboard, as well as a kind of MDF whose emissions are in the "acceptable" range.
Look for a particleboard called SkyBlend developed by Oregon-based Roseburg Forest Products and made with recycled and sustainable raw materials, and Arreis MDF, made by SierraPine, which is based in California.
Both SkyBlend and Arreis are considered green building products that meet North American VOC-emissions standards. They, and PureBond, are readily available in Canada.
With this kind of progress in the wood-products industry, Rayette's Mr. Beattie predicts it won't be long before all composite wood materials are formaldehyde free.
If you're in the market for new kitchen cabinetry and your budget won't cover solid wood models, discuss your material options with your contractor. It's important to ensure that he's up to speed on the latest technology and knows what your preferences are.
Most general contractors have preferred cabinet suppliers. Find out if those suppliers offer a zero or low UF-emitting panel product. If your contractor still thinks there are only the two extremes to choose from, tell him about the mussels.
I know that not everyone is up in arms about UF emissions. Even if you aren't, however, I still urge you to find out where your contractor's cabinet supplier buys his composite wood products. If they're coming from certain Third World countries, you could be getting third-rate quality along with those high UF levels.
Some contractors will go the foreign route because it's cheaper even though those materials often don't meet our more stringent Canadian and North American standards.
Canadian materials can cost more than those made in Third World countries. For example, in an average-sized kitchen, using Canadian-produced panel materials is about $500 more expensive than if you went with the Third World products.
Still, it's not that big of a premium when you consider the benefits of buying Canadian: zero to low UF emissions, and the fact that you're supporting our economy, our workers and our renewable forestry practices.
I'm not even going to get into the whole human rights thing. As a friend of mine says, when it comes to buying Canadian and going as green as we can, "It's all good."
For more information on these eco-friendly products and where you can buy them, visit these websites:
PureBond plywood - http://www.columbiaforestproducts.com
SkyBlend particleboard - http://www.rfpco.com (click on "green build products")
Arreis MDF - http://www.sierrapine.com and http://www.greensource.construction.com.
Related Links:
Globe & Mail
Add new comment
Tags:
Newsfeed
Date: -->
Friday Sep 12, 2008
By
Elizabeth Rand-Watkinson, Globe & Mail, Sept. 12, 2008
Unless you, like some mussels, have been living under a rock, you will be aware of the growing hullabaloo about VOCs (volatile organic compounds) and how we don't want to be breathing them in. The bad news is, if you've had non-solid wood kitchen cabinets installed recently or purchased furniture made of composite wood products, you may be doing just that.
But there's also good news. Governments and manufacturers have heard the ruckus about VOCs and taken action and, just when you thought you had all the possible options for kitchen cabinet materials nailed, out they come with new ones to confuse everyone. Hence this primer to bring you up to speed and make sense of it all.
It used to be that consumers had two extremes to choose from when they shopped for kitchen cabinets.
The lower-cost options were cabinet components made of either particleboard, medium-density fibreboard (MDF) or plywood. These are all composite wood-panel products traditionally containing glues that, when they come to room temperature, emit VOCs in the form of potentially carcinogenic urea formaldehyde (UF).
At the other end of the price extreme was solid wood, which doesn't have this problem but costs more. Many contractors still tell clients that their choices are "either/or," and urge them to go for the higher-priced wood for various reasons.
Luckily for consumers who don't have the budget for a solid-wood kitchen but who want to avoid VOC emissions, this all changed about three years ago, says David Beattie of Rayette Forest Products, based in Concord, Ont.
That was when Oregon-based Columbia Forest Products introduced PureBond, which Mr. Beattie describes as "a veneer core hardwood plywood made with glue containing zero UF."
This plywood, whose layers are joined by a soy flour-based glue, is one of a growing number of alternatives to products in which UF-emitting glues are used. It was introduced by Columbia ahead of new industry standards in the United States - the toughest there to date - set by the California Air Resources Board (CARB).
The story behind PureBond - and this is where the mussels come in - is rather romantic, although romance isn't something you'd normally associate with plywood either. It seems that an Oregon State University researcher was vacationing along the Pacific Ocean. While sitting on the beach watching the waves pound the shoreline, he noticed clumps of mussels clinging to the rocks. No amount of battering surf could dislodge them.
What are they secreting, he wondered, that allows them to adhere to the rocks so solidly? In short, research into those secretions led to the soybean-based, zero-UF glue used in PureBond plywood.
Columbia Forest Products says using PureBond is cost-neutral when compared with its former UF-emitting panel products. That's despite the large expenditures the company says it has made to develop the product.
This is an important development, romantic beginnings aside, because, according to CARB findings, "The most significant source" of (UF) emissions we face on a daily basis comes from the composite woods in our furnishings and cabinetry.
At this stage, the glues that work in zero-UF plywood aren't being used for particleboard or MDF. Some sources say these adhesives simply don't work with those materials, which have different natures than plywood.
But there is something called "no added" UF particleboard, as well as a kind of MDF whose emissions are in the "acceptable" range.
Look for a particleboard called SkyBlend developed by Oregon-based Roseburg Forest Products and made with recycled and sustainable raw materials, and Arreis MDF, made by SierraPine, which is based in California.
Both SkyBlend and Arreis are considered green building products that meet North American VOC-emissions standards. They, and PureBond, are readily available in Canada.
With this kind of progress in the wood-products industry, Rayette's Mr. Beattie predicts it won't be long before all composite wood materials are formaldehyde free.
If you're in the market for new kitchen cabinetry and your budget won't cover solid wood models, discuss your material options with your contractor. It's important to ensure that he's up to speed on the latest technology and knows what your preferences are.
Most general contractors have preferred cabinet suppliers. Find out if those suppliers offer a zero or low UF-emitting panel product. If your contractor still thinks there are only the two extremes to choose from, tell him about the mussels.
I know that not everyone is up in arms about UF emissions. Even if you aren't, however, I still urge you to find out where your contractor's cabinet supplier buys his composite wood products. If they're coming from certain Third World countries, you could be getting third-rate quality along with those high UF levels.
Some contractors will go the foreign route because it's cheaper even though those materials often don't meet our more stringent Canadian and North American standards.
Canadian materials can cost more than those made in Third World countries. For example, in an average-sized kitchen, using Canadian-produced panel materials is about $500 more expensive than if you went with the Third World products.
Still, it's not that big of a premium when you consider the benefits of buying Canadian: zero to low UF emissions, and the fact that you're supporting our economy, our workers and our renewable forestry practices.
I'm not even going to get into the whole human rights thing. As a friend of mine says, when it comes to buying Canadian and going as green as we can, "It's all good."
For more information on these eco-friendly products and where you can buy them, visit these websites:
PureBond plywood - http://www.columbiaforestproducts.com
SkyBlend particleboard - http://www.rfpco.com (click on "green build products")
Arreis MDF - http://www.sierrapine.com and http://www.greensource.construction.com.
Related Links:
Globe & Mail
Add new comment
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Ontario Helps Hearst Go Green
News Release Ministry of Northern Development and Mines
July 15, 2008 - 117
McGuinty Government Supports New Tourism Centre
NEWS
A new tourism centre devoted to green technologies is being developed in Hearst with the support of the Ontario government.
The province is providing $2.3 million to the Town of Hearst to construct the Hearst Regional Green Technology Centre: $1.5 million from Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corporation (NOHFC) and $800,536 from the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs Rural Economic Development Program. When complete, the centre is expected to create 31 full-time jobs.
This multiple-use facility will act as the focal point for research, demonstration and education programming on sustainable forestry practices and technologies. Through linkages with universities and colleges, the Centre will be used by the next generation of experts in the field of sustainability and green technologies. The Centre will be a completely self-sufficient green building, producing its own heat, water and power supply.
QUOTES
Our government is supporting Hearsts vision for a future featuring self-sufficiency and sustainability and this centre has the potential to play an integral role in helping this community achieve that future, said Northern Development and Mines Minister Michael Gravelle, who is also the chair of the NOHFC.
The Hearst Regional Green Technologies Centre is just another example of how the McGuinty government is investing in the future of rural Ontario, said Leona Dombrowsky, Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. The green technologies and practices developed and taught here will benefit not only the local economy but also assist in addressing climate change.
QUICK FACTS
Every winter, approximately 2,000 snowmobilers load their sleds in baggage cars and travel to Hearst on the Algoma Central Railway.
LEARN MORE
Visit the Town of Hearst
This initiative is part of the Northern Prosperity Plan.
What is the Rural Economic Development Program
Anne-Marie Flanagan, Ministers Office, 416-327-0655Michel Lavoie, Communications Branch, 705-564-7125
ontario.ca/north-news
Project Synopsis: The Hearst Regional Green Technologies Centre
Summary
The Hearst Green Technologies Centre will celebrate advancements in a range of emerging green technologies with an emphasis on the conversion of cellulose fibre to ethanol, bio fuels and bio chemicals as well as new initiatives related to the research and commercialization of other non traditional forest products.
The centre will comprise of the following:
An entertainment/educational centre developed to take advantage of the growing awareness and interest in global climate change
A showcase for renewable sustainable clean energy: interactive exhibits, demonstrations, and concrete use of the technology by being a green building
A bioscience laboratory
A multi-media space to be used for temporary exhibits, bus groups, media events, meetings, and films
A fully equipped business incubator space
A visitor information kiosk and gift shop
A living wall exhibit featuring interpretation of local flora and fauna
Designed as an addition to the existing 3,200 square foot Tourist Welcome Centre, the Hearst Green Technologies Centre is poised to take advantage of significant savings in operating costs arising from support and management staff already in place and existing base budgets for customer service. Site servicing, parking and landscaping presently serving the Welcome Centre will also be used to satisfy the needs of the new facility which in turn allows avoiding duplication and hence, minimizing capital costs.
Priorities and objectives
The Hearst and Area Economic Development Corporation is committed to continuing its efforts to ensure that Hearst and area will play a prominent role in the new bio-economy.
The Center will provide easy access to information, tools and mentoring support to assist entrepreneurs in establishing successful businesses in the bio-economy sector.
Perspective 2020 InSight incorporates goals and objectives to ensure that a prosperous community is present for the current and future generations of Hearst
residents.
These goals and objectives include:
To develop tools and resources for rural economic development;
To reinforce and promote the perception/reality that Hearst is a forward-thinking community committed to moving into the NEW BIO-ECONOMY and create linkages with education and training sector;
To provide state-of-the-art infrastructure that will assist in attracting and retaining companies involved in the NEW BIO-ECONOMY;
To provide opportunities for technology transfer among new bio-economy based enterprises and academia;
To promote opportunities and provide support for local entrepreneurs to take their place in the new bio economy;
To improve the economic performance of the participating companies while minimizing their environmental impacts;
Establish Hearst as a year-round destination, structured on the community’s cultural heritage and outdoor adventure assets;
Achieve long term sustainable growth and community revitalization without compromise to the common values shared by all residents of the Town of Hearst;
The overall goal is to increase the skills, knowledge and resources to build capacity within the sector. Knowledge will be shared to implement measures to remove barriers in priority categories.
July 15, 2008 - 117
McGuinty Government Supports New Tourism Centre
NEWS
A new tourism centre devoted to green technologies is being developed in Hearst with the support of the Ontario government.
The province is providing $2.3 million to the Town of Hearst to construct the Hearst Regional Green Technology Centre: $1.5 million from Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corporation (NOHFC) and $800,536 from the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs Rural Economic Development Program. When complete, the centre is expected to create 31 full-time jobs.
This multiple-use facility will act as the focal point for research, demonstration and education programming on sustainable forestry practices and technologies. Through linkages with universities and colleges, the Centre will be used by the next generation of experts in the field of sustainability and green technologies. The Centre will be a completely self-sufficient green building, producing its own heat, water and power supply.
QUOTES
Our government is supporting Hearsts vision for a future featuring self-sufficiency and sustainability and this centre has the potential to play an integral role in helping this community achieve that future, said Northern Development and Mines Minister Michael Gravelle, who is also the chair of the NOHFC.
The Hearst Regional Green Technologies Centre is just another example of how the McGuinty government is investing in the future of rural Ontario, said Leona Dombrowsky, Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. The green technologies and practices developed and taught here will benefit not only the local economy but also assist in addressing climate change.
QUICK FACTS
Every winter, approximately 2,000 snowmobilers load their sleds in baggage cars and travel to Hearst on the Algoma Central Railway.
LEARN MORE
Visit the Town of Hearst
This initiative is part of the Northern Prosperity Plan.
What is the Rural Economic Development Program
Anne-Marie Flanagan, Ministers Office, 416-327-0655Michel Lavoie, Communications Branch, 705-564-7125
ontario.ca/north-news
Project Synopsis: The Hearst Regional Green Technologies Centre
Summary
The Hearst Green Technologies Centre will celebrate advancements in a range of emerging green technologies with an emphasis on the conversion of cellulose fibre to ethanol, bio fuels and bio chemicals as well as new initiatives related to the research and commercialization of other non traditional forest products.
The centre will comprise of the following:
An entertainment/educational centre developed to take advantage of the growing awareness and interest in global climate change
A showcase for renewable sustainable clean energy: interactive exhibits, demonstrations, and concrete use of the technology by being a green building
A bioscience laboratory
A multi-media space to be used for temporary exhibits, bus groups, media events, meetings, and films
A fully equipped business incubator space
A visitor information kiosk and gift shop
A living wall exhibit featuring interpretation of local flora and fauna
Designed as an addition to the existing 3,200 square foot Tourist Welcome Centre, the Hearst Green Technologies Centre is poised to take advantage of significant savings in operating costs arising from support and management staff already in place and existing base budgets for customer service. Site servicing, parking and landscaping presently serving the Welcome Centre will also be used to satisfy the needs of the new facility which in turn allows avoiding duplication and hence, minimizing capital costs.
Priorities and objectives
The Hearst and Area Economic Development Corporation is committed to continuing its efforts to ensure that Hearst and area will play a prominent role in the new bio-economy.
The Center will provide easy access to information, tools and mentoring support to assist entrepreneurs in establishing successful businesses in the bio-economy sector.
Perspective 2020 InSight incorporates goals and objectives to ensure that a prosperous community is present for the current and future generations of Hearst
residents.
These goals and objectives include:
To develop tools and resources for rural economic development;
To reinforce and promote the perception/reality that Hearst is a forward-thinking community committed to moving into the NEW BIO-ECONOMY and create linkages with education and training sector;
To provide state-of-the-art infrastructure that will assist in attracting and retaining companies involved in the NEW BIO-ECONOMY;
To provide opportunities for technology transfer among new bio-economy based enterprises and academia;
To promote opportunities and provide support for local entrepreneurs to take their place in the new bio economy;
To improve the economic performance of the participating companies while minimizing their environmental impacts;
Establish Hearst as a year-round destination, structured on the community’s cultural heritage and outdoor adventure assets;
Achieve long term sustainable growth and community revitalization without compromise to the common values shared by all residents of the Town of Hearst;
The overall goal is to increase the skills, knowledge and resources to build capacity within the sector. Knowledge will be shared to implement measures to remove barriers in priority categories.
Monday, June 30, 2008
Canada takes centre stage at World Bioenergy 2008
When the 77-strong Canadian delegation stepped off the plane in Sweden, they knew they were in bioenergy country. “The whole Arlanda airport is heated with biomass,” said Paul Smallman, a woodlot owner from Prince Edward Island. Like many Canadian delegates on the trade mission to World Bioenergy 2008, the biggest biomass conference in the world, Smallman went to Sweden with a mission: to learn from the best, network and turn the experience into a viable renewable energy business back home. “The wood and forestry sector is going broke by relying on conventional markets, I want to set up a small pellet plant, and use large wood burning furnaces to make renewable heat and power and sell it here, in PEI, to local people. Scandinavians are world leaders in bioenergy technology and markets, and you if you want to do the same, you go learn from the best.”
“Our international colleagues knew we meant business when Canada brought the largest delegation to the World Bioenergy event,” said Doug Bradley, president of the Canadian Bioenergy Association (CANBIO), who organized the trade mission. Held in Jönköping, Sweden last month, CANBIO led a trade mission of 42 participants from six of the country’s ten provinces and another 35 delegates came independently. Participants came from the across the bioenergy sector, including forest owners, biomass-rich communities, researchers and technology providers. But everyone was there for the same reason: to do business.
International partnerships offer some of the best opportunities for Canadian entrepreneurs and municipalities to develop bioenergy. Finnish, Swedish and Austrian technologies and consultancies have been building sustainable bioenergy chains for the last two decades – and Canada, with its vast supply of forest resources – is well positioned to take advantage. Like its Scandinavian counterparts, Canada can utilize forest residues without competing with the pulp and paper industry for virgin fibre. Right now there are 16 million tonnes of excess tree bark sitting in “heritage piles” in Canada—enough energy to provide the needs of close to one million Canadians. Another 11 million tonnes annually of harvest waste is burned or left to rot every year. The massive pine beetle infestation in British Columbia has killed 450 million cubic metres of pine—six years’ worth of harvest at pre-infestation levels, and as a result BC has the largest amount of wood available for energy. .
World Bioenergy 2008 provided a lot of room to seed new bioenergy business ventures. Alexandra Volkoff, the Canadian Ambassador to Sweden, kicked off a popular Canada-Sweden side event that showcased Canada as a place for bioenergy business and partnering. Eighty five participants from 17 countries, including Russia, Sweden, the Netherlands, Finland, Norway, Spain, Brazil and Columbia came to the event, showing interest in Canada from the international bioenergy industry is high. Speakers, including CANBIO President Douglas Bradley and Board Members Bruce McCallum and Carl-Éric Guertin, gave presentations on biomass supply, sustainable forest management and regional bioenergy situations. All presentations can be downloaded at: http://www.infoexport.gc.ca/iei/Post.jsp?did=c20917&sitid=411
Another big draw was the site visits on offer. Roland Kilpatrick, Industrial Technology Advisor for the National Research Council, went on a full or half-day study tour each day of the five-day event. Kilpatrick, who moved to Northeastern Ontario five years ago, sees potential to shift its struggling forestry to a more profitable bio-based economy. He says the field tours were a highlight, allowing him to see state-of-the-art wood pellets and chippers, powering everything from a small farm to the town of Mullsjö, which has a three pellet boilers at three megawatts providing heating to 8,000 people. “We went to a school heated by a pellet boiler that sat in the schoolyard – it was so benign that you could see where the kids bounced their soccer balls on it,” said Kilpatrick.
He and other trade mission participants hope to bring some of the solutions they saw in Sweden back to Canada. Meeting prospective development partners on the trip will help with their task. “I heard talk of prospective development of large-scale projects with offshore partners, and a myriad of smaller-scale heat and power projects across the country – so keep your ears peeled for announcements,” said Bradley.
Delegates said some of the most promising business ventures happened between fellow Canadians. “Travelling with sixty other Canadians helped me to find new synergies and build relationships that could turn into significant bioenergy projects at home,” said Jamie Bakos, CEO of Titan Clean Energy Projects, a Saskatchewan- based biomass project developer. “I talked to a lot of potential customers from Canada interested in switching from traditional forestry to biomass for energy or renewable products,” said Luc Bernard of ALPA Equipment, a biomass machinery dealer in the Maritimes.
Bakos sees teaming up with either Canadian or Scandinavian business partners as the only way to ensure bioenergy takes off. “We need to look at bioenergy as a worldwide industry. We’re up against a long-entrenched fossil fuel industry and chemical giants, and if we think of ourselves as independent competitors, we’ll all lose. We need to think of the biomass industry as one big market and work together to make impacts.”
The Canadian Bioenergy Association’s annual conference is organized around creating bioenergy business opportunities. “Bioenergy: From Words to Action,” a two-day conference and one-day study tour, is taking place in Ottawa on October 6-8 and focuses on bringing together municipalities, entrepreneurs and corporations from around the world to develop new bioenergy projects. It’s the biggest bioenergy event in central Canada and one of the main aims is to promote package solutions for communities to utilize biomass for energy and strengthen their economies. A trade show will showcase the latest technologies from Finland, Austria and Canada, and other biomass equipment and project developers. On the last day, a one-day field tour is expected to visit the world’s longest-running fast pyrolyis plant, (a 100 tonne-per day facility in Renfrew, Ontario), a biomass co-generation plant at Abitibi-Bowater’s pulp mill in Gatineau and Les Broyeurs à Bois harvest waste operation. For more on the conference, visit www.canbio.ca/events.
Photo caption: Canadian delegates check out the biomass briquettes at the Vattenfall CHP plant. From left: Dan Sigouin, Hearst Economic Development Corp; Jonathan Savoie, Groupe Savoie; Robin Trembley, Cardinal Saw; and Claude Brisson, Ecoflamme.
“Our international colleagues knew we meant business when Canada brought the largest delegation to the World Bioenergy event,” said Doug Bradley, president of the Canadian Bioenergy Association (CANBIO), who organized the trade mission. Held in Jönköping, Sweden last month, CANBIO led a trade mission of 42 participants from six of the country’s ten provinces and another 35 delegates came independently. Participants came from the across the bioenergy sector, including forest owners, biomass-rich communities, researchers and technology providers. But everyone was there for the same reason: to do business.
International partnerships offer some of the best opportunities for Canadian entrepreneurs and municipalities to develop bioenergy. Finnish, Swedish and Austrian technologies and consultancies have been building sustainable bioenergy chains for the last two decades – and Canada, with its vast supply of forest resources – is well positioned to take advantage. Like its Scandinavian counterparts, Canada can utilize forest residues without competing with the pulp and paper industry for virgin fibre. Right now there are 16 million tonnes of excess tree bark sitting in “heritage piles” in Canada—enough energy to provide the needs of close to one million Canadians. Another 11 million tonnes annually of harvest waste is burned or left to rot every year. The massive pine beetle infestation in British Columbia has killed 450 million cubic metres of pine—six years’ worth of harvest at pre-infestation levels, and as a result BC has the largest amount of wood available for energy. .
World Bioenergy 2008 provided a lot of room to seed new bioenergy business ventures. Alexandra Volkoff, the Canadian Ambassador to Sweden, kicked off a popular Canada-Sweden side event that showcased Canada as a place for bioenergy business and partnering. Eighty five participants from 17 countries, including Russia, Sweden, the Netherlands, Finland, Norway, Spain, Brazil and Columbia came to the event, showing interest in Canada from the international bioenergy industry is high. Speakers, including CANBIO President Douglas Bradley and Board Members Bruce McCallum and Carl-Éric Guertin, gave presentations on biomass supply, sustainable forest management and regional bioenergy situations. All presentations can be downloaded at: http://www.infoexport.gc.ca/iei/Post.jsp?did=c20917&sitid=411
Another big draw was the site visits on offer. Roland Kilpatrick, Industrial Technology Advisor for the National Research Council, went on a full or half-day study tour each day of the five-day event. Kilpatrick, who moved to Northeastern Ontario five years ago, sees potential to shift its struggling forestry to a more profitable bio-based economy. He says the field tours were a highlight, allowing him to see state-of-the-art wood pellets and chippers, powering everything from a small farm to the town of Mullsjö, which has a three pellet boilers at three megawatts providing heating to 8,000 people. “We went to a school heated by a pellet boiler that sat in the schoolyard – it was so benign that you could see where the kids bounced their soccer balls on it,” said Kilpatrick.
He and other trade mission participants hope to bring some of the solutions they saw in Sweden back to Canada. Meeting prospective development partners on the trip will help with their task. “I heard talk of prospective development of large-scale projects with offshore partners, and a myriad of smaller-scale heat and power projects across the country – so keep your ears peeled for announcements,” said Bradley.
Delegates said some of the most promising business ventures happened between fellow Canadians. “Travelling with sixty other Canadians helped me to find new synergies and build relationships that could turn into significant bioenergy projects at home,” said Jamie Bakos, CEO of Titan Clean Energy Projects, a Saskatchewan- based biomass project developer. “I talked to a lot of potential customers from Canada interested in switching from traditional forestry to biomass for energy or renewable products,” said Luc Bernard of ALPA Equipment, a biomass machinery dealer in the Maritimes.
Bakos sees teaming up with either Canadian or Scandinavian business partners as the only way to ensure bioenergy takes off. “We need to look at bioenergy as a worldwide industry. We’re up against a long-entrenched fossil fuel industry and chemical giants, and if we think of ourselves as independent competitors, we’ll all lose. We need to think of the biomass industry as one big market and work together to make impacts.”
The Canadian Bioenergy Association’s annual conference is organized around creating bioenergy business opportunities. “Bioenergy: From Words to Action,” a two-day conference and one-day study tour, is taking place in Ottawa on October 6-8 and focuses on bringing together municipalities, entrepreneurs and corporations from around the world to develop new bioenergy projects. It’s the biggest bioenergy event in central Canada and one of the main aims is to promote package solutions for communities to utilize biomass for energy and strengthen their economies. A trade show will showcase the latest technologies from Finland, Austria and Canada, and other biomass equipment and project developers. On the last day, a one-day field tour is expected to visit the world’s longest-running fast pyrolyis plant, (a 100 tonne-per day facility in Renfrew, Ontario), a biomass co-generation plant at Abitibi-Bowater’s pulp mill in Gatineau and Les Broyeurs à Bois harvest waste operation. For more on the conference, visit www.canbio.ca/events.
Photo caption: Canadian delegates check out the biomass briquettes at the Vattenfall CHP plant. From left: Dan Sigouin, Hearst Economic Development Corp; Jonathan Savoie, Groupe Savoie; Robin Trembley, Cardinal Saw; and Claude Brisson, Ecoflamme.
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Mot du Directeur et du Président - Réunion annuelle 2007
Si nous avions à décrire en un mot l’année 2007, nous pourrions utiliser le mot continuité. Continuité, puisque la Corporation de développement économique poursuit avec ardeur le développement de plusieurs projets déjà entrepris dans les années ultérieurs. Malgré cela, la situation précoce de l’industrie primaire demeure la préoccupation principale.
L`année 2007 a été une autre année difficile pour l’industrie forestière. La crise hypothécaire américaine, le dollar canadien à parité au dollar américain et la monté en flèche du prix du pétrole sont tous des éléments qui amplifient la crise forestière au Canada. Rien n’indique que 2008 sera plus facile. Certains parlent de recouvrement des marchés du bois d`œuvre vers la fin 2009, d’autres en 2010 et parfois ont s’entend à dire 2011. Peu importe l’exactitude de ces prédictions, nous sommes tous unanimes pour dire que l’industrie forestière flamboyante que nous avons jadis connue, ne sera probablement plus la même.
Mais où est-ce que Hearst se situe dans tout ce chambardement de l’industrie forestière? Bien sûr il y a toujours espérance que le secteur minier vienne prendre la relève et soulager le décroissement économique actuel. Une situation qui serait souhaitable, sans aucun doute. Néanmoins, les forêts demeurent la plus importante source de matière première renouvelable qui existe dans le monde. Chose que nous ne pouvons assurer avec des minerais.
La Corporation de développement économique reconnaît cet aspect et demeure optimiste face à la renaissance de produits dérivés de la forêt boréale. Jugeant par les nombreux projets entrepris par la CDÉ, il est clair que l’avenir de l’industrie repose sur l’introduction de la bio économie dans l’équation forestière actuelle.
Quelle stratégie devrions-nous adopter pour développer cette nouvelle bio économie? Certains diront que l’énergie à partir de la biomasse est la solution. Mais quel type d’énergie devrions-nous développer? La crise alimentaire mondiale actuelle vient en quelque sorte brouiller les cartes. Les biocarburants issus de produits alimentaires ne font pas l’unanimité et d’énormes pressions se font mondialement pour adopter des politiques favorables au développement de biocarburants de deuxième génération. Même les États-Unis, grand producteur d’éthanol à partir de maïs, approuve cette stratégie et le président Bush multiplie l’investissement dans le développement de nouvelles technologies : un carburant issu de ligno-cellulosique (bois, feuilles, paille, etc.). Voilà la grande opportunité pour une région comme Hearst. Imaginez avoir une ressource comparable aux sables bitumineux à l’exception qu’elle est totalement renouvelable, quelle richesse. Il en demeure qu’à nous, les citoyens de Hearst, de réaliser ce potentiel. La CDÉ de Hearst ne peut tout faire seul et se doit de continuer d’obtenir l’appui de la communauté. Ensemble nous devons nous assurer que des politiques publiques soient favorables au développement local tout en répondant aux demandes régionales, provinciales et globales.
L`année 2007 a été une autre année difficile pour l’industrie forestière. La crise hypothécaire américaine, le dollar canadien à parité au dollar américain et la monté en flèche du prix du pétrole sont tous des éléments qui amplifient la crise forestière au Canada. Rien n’indique que 2008 sera plus facile. Certains parlent de recouvrement des marchés du bois d`œuvre vers la fin 2009, d’autres en 2010 et parfois ont s’entend à dire 2011. Peu importe l’exactitude de ces prédictions, nous sommes tous unanimes pour dire que l’industrie forestière flamboyante que nous avons jadis connue, ne sera probablement plus la même.
Mais où est-ce que Hearst se situe dans tout ce chambardement de l’industrie forestière? Bien sûr il y a toujours espérance que le secteur minier vienne prendre la relève et soulager le décroissement économique actuel. Une situation qui serait souhaitable, sans aucun doute. Néanmoins, les forêts demeurent la plus importante source de matière première renouvelable qui existe dans le monde. Chose que nous ne pouvons assurer avec des minerais.
La Corporation de développement économique reconnaît cet aspect et demeure optimiste face à la renaissance de produits dérivés de la forêt boréale. Jugeant par les nombreux projets entrepris par la CDÉ, il est clair que l’avenir de l’industrie repose sur l’introduction de la bio économie dans l’équation forestière actuelle.
Quelle stratégie devrions-nous adopter pour développer cette nouvelle bio économie? Certains diront que l’énergie à partir de la biomasse est la solution. Mais quel type d’énergie devrions-nous développer? La crise alimentaire mondiale actuelle vient en quelque sorte brouiller les cartes. Les biocarburants issus de produits alimentaires ne font pas l’unanimité et d’énormes pressions se font mondialement pour adopter des politiques favorables au développement de biocarburants de deuxième génération. Même les États-Unis, grand producteur d’éthanol à partir de maïs, approuve cette stratégie et le président Bush multiplie l’investissement dans le développement de nouvelles technologies : un carburant issu de ligno-cellulosique (bois, feuilles, paille, etc.). Voilà la grande opportunité pour une région comme Hearst. Imaginez avoir une ressource comparable aux sables bitumineux à l’exception qu’elle est totalement renouvelable, quelle richesse. Il en demeure qu’à nous, les citoyens de Hearst, de réaliser ce potentiel. La CDÉ de Hearst ne peut tout faire seul et se doit de continuer d’obtenir l’appui de la communauté. Ensemble nous devons nous assurer que des politiques publiques soient favorables au développement local tout en répondant aux demandes régionales, provinciales et globales.
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Mayors unite in response to Endangered Species Act
Posted Wednesday, May 14, 2008
By Working Forest staff
Midnight hour scrapping of promised changes to Ontario’s Endangered Species Act has left mayors of Northwestern Ontario shaking their heads.
Come June 30 the ESA, passed last year in Queen’s Park, will come into effect and the Mayor’s of Thunder Bay, Greenstone and Dryden are demanding the provincial government adopt provisions allowing an exemption for the forest industry.
In a press release from the Ontario Forestry Coalition Mayors Anne Krassilowsky of Dryden, Michael Power of Greenstone and Lyn Peterson of Thunder Bay spoke of their concerns for the forest industry.
“The forest sector industry had been promised by the premier of Ontario in August of 2007 that the act would not supersede Forest management planning and the Crown Forest Sustainability Act,” said Power.
“Now it appears at the twelve hour that the premier and the government are going back on this (agreement).”
In an interview Power told The Working Forest that the provincial government met with representatives from the forestry industry and Northern communities over a six month period last year.
During these meetings Power said the provincial government promised to look into creating provisions to section 55 of the act. These provisions would recognize that the Ontario forest industry already satisfies the requirements of the act through existing legislation and licensing.
In mid April the government contacted industry representatives and informed them no permanent provision would be made and a permit system would be enforced.
“We see this as another danger to the economy of northern Ontario,” said Power.
“This is about the future economic viability of our communities in the north and across Ontario. The permitting mechanism being proposed by government will create a duplication of process that negatively impacts the forest industry and threatens future opportunities.”
In response to industry and community concerns the province declared a one year deferral before permits are enforced, but industry representatives are disappointed in the provincial government’s change of heart.
“In the last few weeks government has been under pressure from special interest groups forcing government to move away from its commitments,” said David Milton, President of the Ontario Lumber Manufacturer’s Association (OLMA)).
“What is being proposed today by government, a temporary deferral to develop permits, is clearly not the intent that was discussed last year.”
Power said an estimated 230,000 families living in Northern Ontario count on the Forest industry to make a living and a failure to address any threat to the industry puts their livelihood at risk.
“We’ve had enough bad news about Ontario becoming a have not province,” said Power.
“We need government to revitalize the Ontario economy.”
By Working Forest staff
Midnight hour scrapping of promised changes to Ontario’s Endangered Species Act has left mayors of Northwestern Ontario shaking their heads.
Come June 30 the ESA, passed last year in Queen’s Park, will come into effect and the Mayor’s of Thunder Bay, Greenstone and Dryden are demanding the provincial government adopt provisions allowing an exemption for the forest industry.
In a press release from the Ontario Forestry Coalition Mayors Anne Krassilowsky of Dryden, Michael Power of Greenstone and Lyn Peterson of Thunder Bay spoke of their concerns for the forest industry.
“The forest sector industry had been promised by the premier of Ontario in August of 2007 that the act would not supersede Forest management planning and the Crown Forest Sustainability Act,” said Power.
“Now it appears at the twelve hour that the premier and the government are going back on this (agreement).”
In an interview Power told The Working Forest that the provincial government met with representatives from the forestry industry and Northern communities over a six month period last year.
During these meetings Power said the provincial government promised to look into creating provisions to section 55 of the act. These provisions would recognize that the Ontario forest industry already satisfies the requirements of the act through existing legislation and licensing.
In mid April the government contacted industry representatives and informed them no permanent provision would be made and a permit system would be enforced.
“We see this as another danger to the economy of northern Ontario,” said Power.
“This is about the future economic viability of our communities in the north and across Ontario. The permitting mechanism being proposed by government will create a duplication of process that negatively impacts the forest industry and threatens future opportunities.”
In response to industry and community concerns the province declared a one year deferral before permits are enforced, but industry representatives are disappointed in the provincial government’s change of heart.
“In the last few weeks government has been under pressure from special interest groups forcing government to move away from its commitments,” said David Milton, President of the Ontario Lumber Manufacturer’s Association (OLMA)).
“What is being proposed today by government, a temporary deferral to develop permits, is clearly not the intent that was discussed last year.”
Power said an estimated 230,000 families living in Northern Ontario count on the Forest industry to make a living and a failure to address any threat to the industry puts their livelihood at risk.
“We’ve had enough bad news about Ontario becoming a have not province,” said Power.
“We need government to revitalize the Ontario economy.”
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Forestry has a bright, green future
Posted: May 12, 2008, 7:06 PM by Jeff White
Avrim Lazar, environment, forestry
By Avrim Lazar
There is no doubt that current economics in the Canadian forestry sector are grim. However, when you look out at the horizon, at where global economics are quickly going, it’s clear that the industry’s longer-term prospects are excellent. And strangely, the future of Canada’s most distressed sector provides the most compelling story of how privileged Canada will be in tomorrow’s world economy.How can there be any cause for optimism during what is arguably the worst times in our industry’s history? Because natural resources that are produced sustainably will be the most prized products in tomorrow’s global economy. The math of where the world is heading is simple: Economists are predicting that global GDP will double in the next 20 years and per-capita incomes in developing nations will triple. This march of the world’s poor in developing countries out of a subsistence existence and into the modern economy has long been part of humanity’s dream, but it will put pressure on the planet. Just look at where we are today, with prices for energy and natural commodities rising and the evidence of the harm we are doing to the planet all around us. Now project out from today as global GDP doubles in just two decades.With increasing global wealth, global demand for paper and wood is projected to grow significantly over the years ahead. However, global levels of production of forest products will fall far short of increasing demand. In the past, the answer to growing demand was the establishment of low-cost tree plantations in the tropics. But the emerging social and economic reality will all but stop any expansion of land use for tropical plantation forestry.There is already a shortage of land to grow the food that a more prosperous world is demanding. A first priority of the world’s poor as they move from subsistence to the modern economy is animal protein, especially for their children. But protein production requires 10 times the land base that their traditional foods needed. Add to this the pressures on the agricultural land base that are resulting from massive investments in growing biofuels from sugar cane, corn and palm oil, and it is clear there will be a severe global land shortage. The story for water is, if anything, more sobering. The world will turn to Canada and other boreal nations that have a vast forest base, energy and water for the supply of forest products. But this is only half the story. Illegal logging and widespread deforestation are global scourges that have not been stopped or even significantly slowed. Their impact on global climate change and environmental degradation is enormous.In Canada, we have chosen a different path. We regenerate our forests promptly, regulate the industry and invite outside scrutiny of our forest practices. Government regulation and industry initiative ensure that we don’t rest on our laurels and continually set the bar higher. The market reward for these environmental choices will grow each year as the world increasingly rejects buying from illegal loggers and countries with unchecked deforestation. The industry’s environmental responsibility may be a virtue now, but in the near future it will be a key market advantage and translate into jobs for Canadians.The world is rapidly moving to a place where demand for forest products will have to be met by countries that can produce those products sustainably and without displacing land that could otherwise be used to grow food or fuel. Few countries are as well-positioned as Canada to meet this demand in this way. And therein lies the reason for great confidence not just in the forest industry but in Canada’s overall economic prospects in the new global economy.
Financial Post Avrim Lazar is the president and chief executive of the Forest Products Association of Canada. -->
Avrim Lazar, environment, forestry
By Avrim Lazar
There is no doubt that current economics in the Canadian forestry sector are grim. However, when you look out at the horizon, at where global economics are quickly going, it’s clear that the industry’s longer-term prospects are excellent. And strangely, the future of Canada’s most distressed sector provides the most compelling story of how privileged Canada will be in tomorrow’s world economy.How can there be any cause for optimism during what is arguably the worst times in our industry’s history? Because natural resources that are produced sustainably will be the most prized products in tomorrow’s global economy. The math of where the world is heading is simple: Economists are predicting that global GDP will double in the next 20 years and per-capita incomes in developing nations will triple. This march of the world’s poor in developing countries out of a subsistence existence and into the modern economy has long been part of humanity’s dream, but it will put pressure on the planet. Just look at where we are today, with prices for energy and natural commodities rising and the evidence of the harm we are doing to the planet all around us. Now project out from today as global GDP doubles in just two decades.With increasing global wealth, global demand for paper and wood is projected to grow significantly over the years ahead. However, global levels of production of forest products will fall far short of increasing demand. In the past, the answer to growing demand was the establishment of low-cost tree plantations in the tropics. But the emerging social and economic reality will all but stop any expansion of land use for tropical plantation forestry.There is already a shortage of land to grow the food that a more prosperous world is demanding. A first priority of the world’s poor as they move from subsistence to the modern economy is animal protein, especially for their children. But protein production requires 10 times the land base that their traditional foods needed. Add to this the pressures on the agricultural land base that are resulting from massive investments in growing biofuels from sugar cane, corn and palm oil, and it is clear there will be a severe global land shortage. The story for water is, if anything, more sobering. The world will turn to Canada and other boreal nations that have a vast forest base, energy and water for the supply of forest products. But this is only half the story. Illegal logging and widespread deforestation are global scourges that have not been stopped or even significantly slowed. Their impact on global climate change and environmental degradation is enormous.In Canada, we have chosen a different path. We regenerate our forests promptly, regulate the industry and invite outside scrutiny of our forest practices. Government regulation and industry initiative ensure that we don’t rest on our laurels and continually set the bar higher. The market reward for these environmental choices will grow each year as the world increasingly rejects buying from illegal loggers and countries with unchecked deforestation. The industry’s environmental responsibility may be a virtue now, but in the near future it will be a key market advantage and translate into jobs for Canadians.The world is rapidly moving to a place where demand for forest products will have to be met by countries that can produce those products sustainably and without displacing land that could otherwise be used to grow food or fuel. Few countries are as well-positioned as Canada to meet this demand in this way. And therein lies the reason for great confidence not just in the forest industry but in Canada’s overall economic prospects in the new global economy.
Financial Post Avrim Lazar is the president and chief executive of the Forest Products Association of Canada. -->
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Bioenergy production on the rise
Lisa Hrabluk
Canwest News Service
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
The future of Canada's forests may lie in applying new technologies to a very old use.
Fuel and heat -- trees have long provided both, but wood-produced energy is attracting interest from researchers, investors and consumers. It even has a new name -- bioenergy.
It includes three main product lines: biomass, which uses the wood waste from milling and logging operations to produce electricity and heat; pellets, a wood product that is used in specially designed heating systems; and biofuels, which extracts cellulosic ethanol from wood waste for use as an additive in gasoline and diesel.
For a sector reeling from mill closures, heightened competition from South America and Asia and slumping sales in the U.S., bioenergy may be an important part of Canada's forestry future. Across the country, mill towns are building bioenergy projects, such as a co-operative pellet plant in Miramichi, N.B., a village-wide heating system in Ouje-Bougoumou, an indigenous Cree community in northern Quebec, and a possible biorefinery in Hearst, Ont.
The growth of the bioenergy industry may be a cause of concern for some large forestry companies, which will now have to contend with rising demand and prices for fibre.
Some companies, however, see an opportunity to transform themselves from pulp companies into diversified forestry companies, producing a range of specialized products, including energy.
"Our commitment to increase our environmental performance has two big drivers behind it," said Shawn Wasel, director of environmental resources, for Alberta-Pacific Forest Industries Inc.
"Environmental performance is closely tied to economic performance."
The company, which operates a pulp mill in northern Alberta, was the first Canadian forestry company to go carbon neutral, doing so last year. To achieve that, Alberta-Pacific produces its own power by burning wood waste, selling the excess power to the Alberta electricity grid and expanding its poplar tree plantation, which acts as a carbon sink, sequestering carbon dioxide.
Mr. Wasel says the company will continue to integrate environmental performance into its business plan, by exploring bioenergy projects and by seeking environmental certification for its wood products.
One of Canada's most significant projects is Ottawa-based Iogen's plans to develop the country's first commercial-scale cellulosic ethanol plant in Saskatchewan. The company's partners include Royal Dutch Shell ($46 million), Goldman Sachs and Co. ($30 million) and Petro-Canada ($15.8 million).
The plant also has applied for funding under the federal government's NextGen Biofuels Fund, which will fund up to 40 per cent of costs to establish a large-scale commercial biofuel facility.
© The Ottawa Citizen 2008
Canwest News Service
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
The future of Canada's forests may lie in applying new technologies to a very old use.
Fuel and heat -- trees have long provided both, but wood-produced energy is attracting interest from researchers, investors and consumers. It even has a new name -- bioenergy.
It includes three main product lines: biomass, which uses the wood waste from milling and logging operations to produce electricity and heat; pellets, a wood product that is used in specially designed heating systems; and biofuels, which extracts cellulosic ethanol from wood waste for use as an additive in gasoline and diesel.
For a sector reeling from mill closures, heightened competition from South America and Asia and slumping sales in the U.S., bioenergy may be an important part of Canada's forestry future. Across the country, mill towns are building bioenergy projects, such as a co-operative pellet plant in Miramichi, N.B., a village-wide heating system in Ouje-Bougoumou, an indigenous Cree community in northern Quebec, and a possible biorefinery in Hearst, Ont.
The growth of the bioenergy industry may be a cause of concern for some large forestry companies, which will now have to contend with rising demand and prices for fibre.
Some companies, however, see an opportunity to transform themselves from pulp companies into diversified forestry companies, producing a range of specialized products, including energy.
"Our commitment to increase our environmental performance has two big drivers behind it," said Shawn Wasel, director of environmental resources, for Alberta-Pacific Forest Industries Inc.
"Environmental performance is closely tied to economic performance."
The company, which operates a pulp mill in northern Alberta, was the first Canadian forestry company to go carbon neutral, doing so last year. To achieve that, Alberta-Pacific produces its own power by burning wood waste, selling the excess power to the Alberta electricity grid and expanding its poplar tree plantation, which acts as a carbon sink, sequestering carbon dioxide.
Mr. Wasel says the company will continue to integrate environmental performance into its business plan, by exploring bioenergy projects and by seeking environmental certification for its wood products.
One of Canada's most significant projects is Ottawa-based Iogen's plans to develop the country's first commercial-scale cellulosic ethanol plant in Saskatchewan. The company's partners include Royal Dutch Shell ($46 million), Goldman Sachs and Co. ($30 million) and Petro-Canada ($15.8 million).
The plant also has applied for funding under the federal government's NextGen Biofuels Fund, which will fund up to 40 per cent of costs to establish a large-scale commercial biofuel facility.
© The Ottawa Citizen 2008
Monday, April 21, 2008
Boreal forest and climate change
By WERNER KURZSat. Apr 19 - 6:14 AM
Recent media reports have suggested that logging is destabilizing the Canadian boreal forest and making it more susceptible to fire and insects, which could cause a catastrophic emission of greenhouse gases. The boreal forest is indeed under threat from climate change. Increased temperatures and changes in precipitation are already having impacts on the severity of forest fires and insect infestations. But these impacts are the result of global climate change, not local logging activities.
Natural disturbances dominate the carbon dynamics of the boreal forest. Fires in the boreal and taiga regions burn an average of 0.7 per cent of the forested land per year. But only 0.2 per cent of the managed boreal forest is harvested each year. The notion that this harvesting will result in the release of a major portion of the carbon stored in the rest of the boreal forest is not supported by science.
About 85 per cent of the area annually burned in Canada’s forests is the result of lightning strikes, and there is no scientific evidence that logging increases the area annually burned in the boreal forest. In fact, many insects prefer older stands that are less able to resist attack. This is the case for the current mountain pine beetle infestation in British Columbia, where fire suppression and a lack of harvesting led to large areas of mature pine forests. With warmer winters, the beetle was able to survive and spread well beyond its historic range. Although this infestation will lead to significant amounts of carbon release as trees decompose, salvage harvesting some of this wood to replace the harvest of live trees or using the material for bioenergy as a substitute for fossil fuel will reduce overall carbon emissions.
Forests play two important roles in the global climate system: First, they remove carbon from the atmosphere and store it in trees, litter and soil carbon; and second, they provide timber, fibre and energy to meet human demands. The International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) – the UN organization that shared the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007 with Al Gore – concluded that "a sustainable forest management strategy aimed at maintaining or increasing forest carbon stocks, while producing an annual sustained yield of timber, fibre or energy from the forest, will generate the largest sustained mitigation benefit." If logging were to stop in Canada’s boreal forest, then society’s demands would be met using materials with a higher carbon footprint than products from sustainably managed forests.
Sustainable forest management seeks to find the balance between many competing interests. Under a changing climate, the complexity of forest management has increased. We need to take into account not only the role of forests in storing carbon, but also how they respond to a changing climate and how we need to manage them differently to both mitigate climate change and adapt to the climate of the future. There are no simple solutions. Addressing these issues will require ongoing rigorous scientific analyses, consultation with many stakeholders and actions that are guided by scientific facts.
Dr. Werner Kurz is a senior research scientist with Natural Resources’ Canadian Forest Service, the lead scientist for Canada’s national forest carbon monitoring, accounting and reporting system and a member of the IPCC. For more information, go to carbon.cfs.nrcan.gc.ca/FAQ_e.html.
Martin gets on board for Sault passenger train
Posted By Corina Milic
Updated 10 hours ago - The Sault Star
Northern Ontario's new economic engine could run on train tracks, according to Tony Martin.
The Sault MP and seven other members of the MP Rail Caucus rode the rails Thursday to lobby on behalf of rail transportation in and out of northern centres like Sault Ste. Marie.
"The politicians present expressed a real commitment to rail as a critical transportation link," said Martin in a press release.
He said investment in northern rail lines including both passenger and freight, from Hearst, Sault Ste. Marie and Sudbury will be good for local economies and the rest of Canada.
"Our newly revitalized Algoma Steel and St. Mary's Paper will benefit from alternatives for transportation."
Traveling Saulites could also benefit from rail transportation, which is not an option most northern Ontarians have.
Yvette Tiplady said she wishes there were more choices for getting to and from the city. A Greyhound bus ride from the Sault to Toronto before Christmas left the retiree stranded in Espanola for two days. But unfortunately, the bus is currently the only affordable choice for many residents who cannot drive, she said.
Updated 10 hours ago - The Sault Star
Northern Ontario's new economic engine could run on train tracks, according to Tony Martin.
The Sault MP and seven other members of the MP Rail Caucus rode the rails Thursday to lobby on behalf of rail transportation in and out of northern centres like Sault Ste. Marie.
"The politicians present expressed a real commitment to rail as a critical transportation link," said Martin in a press release.
He said investment in northern rail lines including both passenger and freight, from Hearst, Sault Ste. Marie and Sudbury will be good for local economies and the rest of Canada.
"Our newly revitalized Algoma Steel and St. Mary's Paper will benefit from alternatives for transportation."
Traveling Saulites could also benefit from rail transportation, which is not an option most northern Ontarians have.
Yvette Tiplady said she wishes there were more choices for getting to and from the city. A Greyhound bus ride from the Sault to Toronto before Christmas left the retiree stranded in Espanola for two days. But unfortunately, the bus is currently the only affordable choice for many residents who cannot drive, she said.
Monday, March 31, 2008
STRENGTHENING ONTARIO’S ECONOMY BY INVESTING IN NORTHERN AND RURAL ONTARIO
Posted Tuesday, March 25, 2008Ontario budget for Northern OntarioBy Government of Ontario
Strong, vibrant northern and rural communities are important to Ontario’s economic success and quality of life. These regions have great potential to contribute to Ontario’s innovative new economy, but they also face unique challenges that require a focused and coordinated response.
BUILDING OPPORTUNITIES IN NORTHERN ONTARIO
In addition to investments in education and health care, this Budget provides $508.7 million in strategic initiatives over four years to create opportunities in northern communities and help to secure the region’s place in Ontario’s changing economy. Northern Ontario will benefit from:
$302 million over the next four years for new investments in northern highways
An acceleration of Business Education Tax (BET) rate cuts for northern businesses:
BET rates will be reduced more quickly in 85 northern municipalities, benefiting more than 30,000 businesses, resulting in total savings of more than $70 million over the next three years
Increasing funding from $60 million in 2007-08 to $100 million in 2011-12, for the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corporation
$25 million to support the creation of a centre in Thunder Bay for research and innovation in the bio-economy focused on forestry
$15 million to support the establishment of a centre for invasive species management in Sault Ste. Marie
$9.7 million to complete funding of Ontario’s commitment of $14.7 million to develop a Molecular Medicine Research Centre in Thunder Bay
$27 million over three years for a new Distance Grant to assist with travel costs for postsecondary students in rural and remote areas
An additional $13 million in 2008-09 for enhancements to the Northern Health Travel Grant to help northerners access health care services
$450 million in the Municipal Infrastructure Investment Initiative - $150 million in 2008, building on $300 million in 2007
$400 million in 2007-08 for municipal roads and bridges to help communities outside Toronto.
The McGuinty government is also working with Aboriginal peoples and northern stakeholders on a Growth Plan for Northern Ontario. The plan will focus on achieving and sustaining growth, and creating opportunities to live, work and raise families in the north.
OPPORTUNITIES FOR RURAL ONTARIO
The McGuinty government is working with rural communities and stakeholders to give them the opportunities they need to embark on a prosperous future. To further enhance opportunities for growth and support a high quality of life in Ontario’s rural communities, this Budget announces:
An additional $400 million in 2007-08 for municipal roads and bridges outside Toronto
$30 million over four years to enhance broadband access in rural areas in southern Ontario, leveraging broadband infrastructure investment from private-sector businesses and public partners to grow and improve access to public services such as e-learning, e-health and e-government
$30 million increase over four years to the Rural Economic Development (RED) Program
$53 million over the next three years to add 50 more Family Health Teams by 2011-12, targeting rural and underserviced communities
Led by the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade, the government is also working with stakeholders to develop the Eastern Ontario Development Fund
Proposing to expand the Land Transfer Tax exemption for transfers of the family farm to include transfers from family farm corporations to individual family members
In addition, rural communities will benefit from initiatives to support key sectors such as manufacturing, agriculture and forestry, and from Ontario’s commitment to develop the bio-economy.
ENVIRONMENT
$56 million over four years for the Pick Ontario Freshness strategy and the Ontario Farmers’ Market initiative, which will help Ontarians to buy locally
$7.5 million to the University of Western Ontario to support interdisciplinary research into chemicals and fuels made from agricultural resources.
ACHIEVEMENTS
North
These announcements build on existing investments in health, education and infrastructure that specifically address the north’s unique circumstances. They also enhance strategic support for key industries and research and commercialization that are helping to build on the north’s strengths and better position the region to seize the opportunities of the new economy. Examples include:
More than $1 billion has been made available to assist the forest sector since 2005
The first new medical school in Canada in over 30 years opened in 2005 - the Northern Ontario School of Medicine
$1.8 billion, five-year program to improve and expand northern highways as part of ReNew Ontario
More than $48 million invested in additional surgeries and exams in hospitals in the North East and North West Local Health Integration Networks since the launch of the Wait Time Strategy in 2003-04
$10 million to support a new Centre for Excellence in Mining Innovation in Sudbury.
Rural
In addition to the initiatives announced in this Budget, there are a number of investments made by this government to further support rural communities to keep them competitive and expand their opportunities:
$298 million under the Canada-Ontario Municipal Rural Infrastructure Fund to help fund 280 infrastructure projects, including an Asset Management Program to help rural and small communities improve and increase their capacity to manage their infrastructure assets
Investments to help rural and small communities provide safe and reliable local infrastructure, including $140 million under the Rural Infrastructure Investment Initiative for critical projects identified by communities
Funding to 68 small and rural hospitals in 2006-07 to address service gaps and maintain core services that support emergency care in their communities as part of the October 2006 Emergency Department Action Plan
$17 million in new annual funding in the 2007-08 school year under the $63 million Supported Schools Allocation for teachers and operating costs in schools with low enrolment that are too far apart to consolidate
The RED program, which in 2007-08 approved $18.4 million for 50 projects in three priority areas: improved access to health care services, revitalized communities and downtowns, and enhanced skills training
The Rural Connections Program, which invested $10 million in 2007-08 to assist 18 rural southern Ontario communities to implement broadband access
The Rural Summer Jobs Service, which in 2007 helped more than 3,800 students, aged 14 to 24, gain valuable experience and work skills.
Strong, vibrant northern and rural communities are important to Ontario’s economic success and quality of life. These regions have great potential to contribute to Ontario’s innovative new economy, but they also face unique challenges that require a focused and coordinated response.
BUILDING OPPORTUNITIES IN NORTHERN ONTARIO
In addition to investments in education and health care, this Budget provides $508.7 million in strategic initiatives over four years to create opportunities in northern communities and help to secure the region’s place in Ontario’s changing economy. Northern Ontario will benefit from:
$302 million over the next four years for new investments in northern highways
An acceleration of Business Education Tax (BET) rate cuts for northern businesses:
BET rates will be reduced more quickly in 85 northern municipalities, benefiting more than 30,000 businesses, resulting in total savings of more than $70 million over the next three years
Increasing funding from $60 million in 2007-08 to $100 million in 2011-12, for the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corporation
$25 million to support the creation of a centre in Thunder Bay for research and innovation in the bio-economy focused on forestry
$15 million to support the establishment of a centre for invasive species management in Sault Ste. Marie
$9.7 million to complete funding of Ontario’s commitment of $14.7 million to develop a Molecular Medicine Research Centre in Thunder Bay
$27 million over three years for a new Distance Grant to assist with travel costs for postsecondary students in rural and remote areas
An additional $13 million in 2008-09 for enhancements to the Northern Health Travel Grant to help northerners access health care services
$450 million in the Municipal Infrastructure Investment Initiative - $150 million in 2008, building on $300 million in 2007
$400 million in 2007-08 for municipal roads and bridges to help communities outside Toronto.
The McGuinty government is also working with Aboriginal peoples and northern stakeholders on a Growth Plan for Northern Ontario. The plan will focus on achieving and sustaining growth, and creating opportunities to live, work and raise families in the north.
OPPORTUNITIES FOR RURAL ONTARIO
The McGuinty government is working with rural communities and stakeholders to give them the opportunities they need to embark on a prosperous future. To further enhance opportunities for growth and support a high quality of life in Ontario’s rural communities, this Budget announces:
An additional $400 million in 2007-08 for municipal roads and bridges outside Toronto
$30 million over four years to enhance broadband access in rural areas in southern Ontario, leveraging broadband infrastructure investment from private-sector businesses and public partners to grow and improve access to public services such as e-learning, e-health and e-government
$30 million increase over four years to the Rural Economic Development (RED) Program
$53 million over the next three years to add 50 more Family Health Teams by 2011-12, targeting rural and underserviced communities
Led by the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade, the government is also working with stakeholders to develop the Eastern Ontario Development Fund
Proposing to expand the Land Transfer Tax exemption for transfers of the family farm to include transfers from family farm corporations to individual family members
In addition, rural communities will benefit from initiatives to support key sectors such as manufacturing, agriculture and forestry, and from Ontario’s commitment to develop the bio-economy.
ENVIRONMENT
$56 million over four years for the Pick Ontario Freshness strategy and the Ontario Farmers’ Market initiative, which will help Ontarians to buy locally
$7.5 million to the University of Western Ontario to support interdisciplinary research into chemicals and fuels made from agricultural resources.
ACHIEVEMENTS
North
These announcements build on existing investments in health, education and infrastructure that specifically address the north’s unique circumstances. They also enhance strategic support for key industries and research and commercialization that are helping to build on the north’s strengths and better position the region to seize the opportunities of the new economy. Examples include:
More than $1 billion has been made available to assist the forest sector since 2005
The first new medical school in Canada in over 30 years opened in 2005 - the Northern Ontario School of Medicine
$1.8 billion, five-year program to improve and expand northern highways as part of ReNew Ontario
More than $48 million invested in additional surgeries and exams in hospitals in the North East and North West Local Health Integration Networks since the launch of the Wait Time Strategy in 2003-04
$10 million to support a new Centre for Excellence in Mining Innovation in Sudbury.
Rural
In addition to the initiatives announced in this Budget, there are a number of investments made by this government to further support rural communities to keep them competitive and expand their opportunities:
$298 million under the Canada-Ontario Municipal Rural Infrastructure Fund to help fund 280 infrastructure projects, including an Asset Management Program to help rural and small communities improve and increase their capacity to manage their infrastructure assets
Investments to help rural and small communities provide safe and reliable local infrastructure, including $140 million under the Rural Infrastructure Investment Initiative for critical projects identified by communities
Funding to 68 small and rural hospitals in 2006-07 to address service gaps and maintain core services that support emergency care in their communities as part of the October 2006 Emergency Department Action Plan
$17 million in new annual funding in the 2007-08 school year under the $63 million Supported Schools Allocation for teachers and operating costs in schools with low enrolment that are too far apart to consolidate
The RED program, which in 2007-08 approved $18.4 million for 50 projects in three priority areas: improved access to health care services, revitalized communities and downtowns, and enhanced skills training
The Rural Connections Program, which invested $10 million in 2007-08 to assist 18 rural southern Ontario communities to implement broadband access
The Rural Summer Jobs Service, which in 2007 helped more than 3,800 students, aged 14 to 24, gain valuable experience and work skills.
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Biofuel Booster Has a Point
Biofuel booster has a point TheStar.com - columnists - Biofuel booster has a point
March 24, 2008 Tyler Hamilton
Corn ethanol isn't sustainable. Corn ethanol is jacking up food prices. Corn ethanol isn't worth the energy that goes into producing it.
Okay, we get it already. Corn ethanol isn't a long-term path for making renewable fuels, but does that mean ethanol itself is a bad thing?
"I think there's a lot of disinformation out there," says Frank Dottori, founder and former CEO of Tembec Inc., the multibillion-dollar forest products company.
Dottori, a chemical engineer by training who describes himself as the "old retired guy," apparently has some unfinished work to do. Earlier this month he was announced as the new head of Greenfield Ethanol Inc.'s "cellulosic ethanol" division – that is, he's in charge of finding out how to make the renewable fuel out of wood chips, agricultural residues and municipal solid waste. Pretty much anything but a food crop like corn.
"I've been at this for 30-some years, looking at different ways of converting biomass into valuable chemicals and energy and fuels," says Dottori, explaining that after he retired in 2006 he was approached by Toronto-based Greenfield – the largest independent ethanol producer in Canada – about taking on the challenge.
"They wanted to move away from corn. They want to get into this cellulosic ethanol as the next step ... That's where the world has to go."
Right now, much of the ethanol world – at least in North America – is stuck on corn. Nobody would argue it's the perfect crop, and most would say it can't be relied on as the ethanol market grows. But Dottori also believes the current problems making headlines are being exaggerated.
"Corn is being blamed for the price of tortillas in Mexico, or driving up the price of food generally. But if you look at the price of oil, it's gone from $20 to $100, and everybody uses oil to do farming," he says. "I think that's a bigger part of the problem than ethanol."
He points to the fact that wheat prices hit a record high of $13.50 a bushel on Feb. 27. In the past year, wheat prices have jumped 180 per cent, much higher than the 31-per-cent hike seen with corn. We've seen a tripling of wheat prices in the past couple of years, and it's getting to the point where bakers are getting hammered with the high cost of flour sacks.
"Virtually no wheat goes into making fuel," says Dottori. "So I think there are people who rain on anything, and I don't think they've got their facts."
At the same time, most in the industry see the writing on the wall and view corn as merely a transition to a more sustainable approach. It's why Suncor Energy is working with Vancouver-based Lignol Energy Corp. to build a cellulosic ethanol pilot plant in Colorado. It's why Royal Dutch Shell has invested in Ottawa-based Iogen Corp., which is building an ethanol refinery in Saskatchewan and another in Idaho.
Both Lignol and Iogen use enzymes to break down the cellulose in biomass and access sugars that are converted into ethanol.
Greenfield, meanwhile, announced this month he is partnering with Montreal-based Enerkem Technologies Inc., which has a "gasification" process that turns biomass and other organic materials into a synthetic gas that is later converted into ethanol. No enzymes required.
The two companies plan to design, build and operate commercial-scale cellulosic ethanol plants as part of a joint venture. The first plant location has already been selected – though the companies aren't disclosing where – and a second plant is in development.
"We've had a pilot plant since 2003 that has operated more than 3,000 hours, with feedstock as diverse as municipal solid waste, spent plastics, power poles, dried sludge and forest biomass," says Vincent Chornet, chief executive officer of Enerkem.
The company is currently building an industrial-sized facility in Westbury, Quebec that will process old wooden power poles from Hydro-Quebec.
Dottori said the plants Greenfield and Enerkem want to build will be 10 to 15 times larger, and located in urban centres. "If the Westbury plant works then we'll say, let's go with a bigger one."
What all these plants will attempt to show is that ethanol can be made from non-food crops and "waste" materials in a way that's sustainable over the long term and economical, particularly as the price of a barrel of oil creeps up.
Currently, ethanol producers have to pay, and lately dearly, for corn. But the owner of a cellulosic ethanol plant may, down the line, get paid to take waste products off someone else's hands. It flips around the economics of producing ethanol, in that the zero or negative cost of feedstock offsets the higher initial capital cost of building a cellulosic ethanol plant.
For example, Greenfield could get paid by a city like Toronto to take the material collected from our municipal green bin program. The ethanol produced could then be used in local transportation. No impact on cattle feed prices. No rioting Mexicans worried about tortilla scarcity. And the benefit of reducing our dependence on land fills.
"The general public is misinformed," says Chornet, adding that talk of cellulosic ethanol being a distant dream is far from reality. "What you're seeing now is entrepreneurial groups working away secretly on getting to market. I don't think it's many years away. I think it's very close."
Dottori admits that the first couple of plants will be expensive experiments. "The question is how do you scale it up and make it viable commercially. I think it's doable."
Tyler Hamilton's Clean Break appears Mondays. You may email him at thamilt@thestar.ca.
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Demain, l’or boréal
Carburants, médicaments, cosmétiques, textiles : avec les arbres, on fera bientôt plus que des meubles. Les bioraffineries, planche de salut de la forêt québécoise ?
par Jean-Benoît Nadeaupublié dans L'actualité du 1er avril 2008
EXCLUSIF!
Oubliez les scénarios catastrophe pour l’industrie forestière. D’ici 20 ans, les papetières seront devenues des bioraffineries, qui produiront, en plus du papier, des biocarburants, des polymères, des médicaments et divers sous-produits servant à la fabrication de pneus, de cosmétiques, de pièces autos, alouette ! Les vieilles scieries seront devenues des usines de maisons, de murs, de planchers et de toits préfabriqués, de cercueils, de meubles... Grâce aux progrès en sylviculture et en opérations forestières, les forêts pousseront plus vite. Et on fabriquera des biocarburants sur les chantiers eux-mêmes.
Bref, si les nouveaux sorciers de la forêt tiennent leurs promesses, l’avenir est dans le bois !
Ces nouveaux sorciers, ce sont les 650 chercheurs et techniciens de FPInnovations, le plus important institut de recherche forestière sans but lucratif au monde. La moitié de son budget de 100 millions de dollars provient de 500 entreprises privées ; le reste, des 14 gouvernements canadiens.
Ce qui se mijote dans les quatre centres de l’institut, c’est le contraire du cauchemar productiviste que dénonçait L’erreur boréale, de Richard Desjardins. Paprican, à Pointe-Claire, s’intéresse aux pâtes et papiers. Forintek, à Sainte-Foy, au bois de sciage, et Feric, à Pointe-Claire, à la foresterie. Quant au Centre canadien sur la fibre de bois, aussi à Sainte-Foy, il se livre à l’étude fondamentale de l’arbre à partir de la graine même. Leur mission : préparer des lendemains qui chantent aux régions forestières du Québec, durement éprouvées (voir « Carte bois »).
http://issuu.com/dsigouin/docs/or_boreal?mode=embed&documentId=080312130657-29558d370c594831ac8930a90901f749&layout=grey
par Jean-Benoît Nadeaupublié dans L'actualité du 1er avril 2008
EXCLUSIF!
Oubliez les scénarios catastrophe pour l’industrie forestière. D’ici 20 ans, les papetières seront devenues des bioraffineries, qui produiront, en plus du papier, des biocarburants, des polymères, des médicaments et divers sous-produits servant à la fabrication de pneus, de cosmétiques, de pièces autos, alouette ! Les vieilles scieries seront devenues des usines de maisons, de murs, de planchers et de toits préfabriqués, de cercueils, de meubles... Grâce aux progrès en sylviculture et en opérations forestières, les forêts pousseront plus vite. Et on fabriquera des biocarburants sur les chantiers eux-mêmes.
Bref, si les nouveaux sorciers de la forêt tiennent leurs promesses, l’avenir est dans le bois !
Ces nouveaux sorciers, ce sont les 650 chercheurs et techniciens de FPInnovations, le plus important institut de recherche forestière sans but lucratif au monde. La moitié de son budget de 100 millions de dollars provient de 500 entreprises privées ; le reste, des 14 gouvernements canadiens.
Ce qui se mijote dans les quatre centres de l’institut, c’est le contraire du cauchemar productiviste que dénonçait L’erreur boréale, de Richard Desjardins. Paprican, à Pointe-Claire, s’intéresse aux pâtes et papiers. Forintek, à Sainte-Foy, au bois de sciage, et Feric, à Pointe-Claire, à la foresterie. Quant au Centre canadien sur la fibre de bois, aussi à Sainte-Foy, il se livre à l’étude fondamentale de l’arbre à partir de la graine même. Leur mission : préparer des lendemains qui chantent aux régions forestières du Québec, durement éprouvées (voir « Carte bois »).
http://issuu.com/dsigouin/docs/or_boreal?mode=embed&documentId=080312130657-29558d370c594831ac8930a90901f749&layout=grey
Monday, March 10, 2008
La Suède roulera au bois
La Suède veut mettre fin à sa dépendance au pétrole. Pour y parvenir, elle mise sur les biocarburants issus de la forêt.
par Jonathan Trudelpublié dans L'actualité du 1er avril 2008
Faire le plein avec de l’essence fabriquée à partir de copeaux de bois ? Ça pourrait bientôt devenir normal aux yeux des automobilistes suédois. À condition que l’usine-pilote que me fait visiter son superviseur, Stefan Johansson, remplisse ses promesses.
Nichée près de Värnamo, au cœur du Småland, région boisée du sud de la Suède où fut inventée la scie mécanique, cette usine a été construite dans les années 1990. On voulait alors tester une nouvelle technique de gazéification du bois destinée à améliorer les performances des centrales thermiques carburant aux résidus forestiers.
Fermée parce que trop coûteuse à exploiter, l’usine a aujourd’hui droit à une seconde vie. Et est investie d’une mission ambitieuse : contribuer à libérer la Suède de sa dépendance au pétrole. Le pays n’en possède pas.
« On a presque tout fait, depuis la crise pétrolière de 1973, pour réduire notre consommation, qu’il s’agisse de chauffer les résidences ou de faire fonctionner l’industrie et de produire de l’électricité, dit Kristina Jonäng, chef de cabinet du ministre de l’Environnement. Il faut maintenant s’attaquer au secteur des transports. »
Une commission mise sur pied et dirigée par l’ancien premier ministre social-démocrate avait fait grand bruit l’an dernier. On prévoyait que le pays ne dépendrait plus du pétrole d’ici 2020. Le nouveau gouvernement refuse de s’engager à respecter ce délai, mais souscrit au principe de l’« indépendance pétrolière ». Pour atteindre cet objectif, les biocarburants joueront un rôle clé. D’où l’importance du projet-pilote de Värnamo, financé par l’Agence suédoise de l’énergie et la Commission européenne.
Au lieu de produire de l’électricité, l’usine transformera des copeaux de bois en gaz synthétique, puis en biocarburants. La cellulose, tirée du bois, offre un meilleur rendement énergétique que les biocarburants de première génération à base de canne à sucre ou de maïs, comme l’éthanol. « Si on voulait faire rouler tous nos véhicules avec de l’éthanol fabriqué à partir de maïs, le pays ne serait pas assez grand pour contenir tous les champs qu’il nous faudrait », dit l’ingénieur Stefan Johansson, le géant blond aux yeux bleus qui supervise l’usine. Les forêts suédoises, par contre, suffiraient à étancher la soif des moteurs, selon les calculs des ingénieurs. « Nos forêts croissent plus vite que le rythme auquel nous les exploitons », dit Stefan Johansson. (On croit rêver…) L’excédent produit par cette croissance pourrait à lui seul combler la moitié des besoins en carburant du pays. Pour atteindre complètement l’objectif, il suffirait de fertiliser les forêts et de planter des espèces à croissance rapide.
Cette technologie ne réglerait évidemment pas les problèmes de la planète — tous les pays ne disposent pas de vastes forêts. Mais la Suède cherche à faire de cette initiative un autre symbole de sa préoccupation environnementale avant de présider l’Union européenne, en 2009. « Pour s’attaquer au réchauffement climatique, on ne peut pas tout faire seul. Il faut s’associer, dit Kristina Jonäng, du ministère de l’Environnement. On veut convaincre l’Inde, la Chine et les États-Unis de s’engager dans le traité qui remplacera le protocole de Kyoto. C’est plus facile d’avoir une position de force dans les négociations internationales quand on peut dire aux autres : “Voici ce qu’on a accompli, sans faire sombrer notre économie. Maintenant, vous, que pouvez-vous faire ?” »
par Jonathan Trudelpublié dans L'actualité du 1er avril 2008
Faire le plein avec de l’essence fabriquée à partir de copeaux de bois ? Ça pourrait bientôt devenir normal aux yeux des automobilistes suédois. À condition que l’usine-pilote que me fait visiter son superviseur, Stefan Johansson, remplisse ses promesses.
Nichée près de Värnamo, au cœur du Småland, région boisée du sud de la Suède où fut inventée la scie mécanique, cette usine a été construite dans les années 1990. On voulait alors tester une nouvelle technique de gazéification du bois destinée à améliorer les performances des centrales thermiques carburant aux résidus forestiers.
Fermée parce que trop coûteuse à exploiter, l’usine a aujourd’hui droit à une seconde vie. Et est investie d’une mission ambitieuse : contribuer à libérer la Suède de sa dépendance au pétrole. Le pays n’en possède pas.
« On a presque tout fait, depuis la crise pétrolière de 1973, pour réduire notre consommation, qu’il s’agisse de chauffer les résidences ou de faire fonctionner l’industrie et de produire de l’électricité, dit Kristina Jonäng, chef de cabinet du ministre de l’Environnement. Il faut maintenant s’attaquer au secteur des transports. »
Une commission mise sur pied et dirigée par l’ancien premier ministre social-démocrate avait fait grand bruit l’an dernier. On prévoyait que le pays ne dépendrait plus du pétrole d’ici 2020. Le nouveau gouvernement refuse de s’engager à respecter ce délai, mais souscrit au principe de l’« indépendance pétrolière ». Pour atteindre cet objectif, les biocarburants joueront un rôle clé. D’où l’importance du projet-pilote de Värnamo, financé par l’Agence suédoise de l’énergie et la Commission européenne.
Au lieu de produire de l’électricité, l’usine transformera des copeaux de bois en gaz synthétique, puis en biocarburants. La cellulose, tirée du bois, offre un meilleur rendement énergétique que les biocarburants de première génération à base de canne à sucre ou de maïs, comme l’éthanol. « Si on voulait faire rouler tous nos véhicules avec de l’éthanol fabriqué à partir de maïs, le pays ne serait pas assez grand pour contenir tous les champs qu’il nous faudrait », dit l’ingénieur Stefan Johansson, le géant blond aux yeux bleus qui supervise l’usine. Les forêts suédoises, par contre, suffiraient à étancher la soif des moteurs, selon les calculs des ingénieurs. « Nos forêts croissent plus vite que le rythme auquel nous les exploitons », dit Stefan Johansson. (On croit rêver…) L’excédent produit par cette croissance pourrait à lui seul combler la moitié des besoins en carburant du pays. Pour atteindre complètement l’objectif, il suffirait de fertiliser les forêts et de planter des espèces à croissance rapide.
Cette technologie ne réglerait évidemment pas les problèmes de la planète — tous les pays ne disposent pas de vastes forêts. Mais la Suède cherche à faire de cette initiative un autre symbole de sa préoccupation environnementale avant de présider l’Union européenne, en 2009. « Pour s’attaquer au réchauffement climatique, on ne peut pas tout faire seul. Il faut s’associer, dit Kristina Jonäng, du ministère de l’Environnement. On veut convaincre l’Inde, la Chine et les États-Unis de s’engager dans le traité qui remplacera le protocole de Kyoto. C’est plus facile d’avoir une position de force dans les négociations internationales quand on peut dire aux autres : “Voici ce qu’on a accompli, sans faire sombrer notre économie. Maintenant, vous, que pouvez-vous faire ?” »
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
Enerkem prépare la prochaine génération d’éthanol en Estrie
Son usine produira 5 millions de litres d’éthanol cellulosique par année par Alexis Beauchamp Voir tous les articles de Alexis BeauchampTexte mis en ligne le 4 mars 2008 à 16:16 Soyez le premier à commenter ce texte
L'usine d'Enerkem à Westbury, en Estrie.
Voir toutes les photos
Enerkem prépare la prochaine génération d’éthanol en Estrie
Son usine produira 5 millions de litres d’éthanol cellulosique par année
Les travaux de construction de la première usine industrielle d’éthanol cellulosique au Canada vont bon train, et l’usine d’Enerkem devrait ouvrir ses portes l’automne prochain.
Selon l’entreprise québécoise, l’usine de Westbury, près de Sherbrooke, sera l’une des premières installations industrielles d’éthanol cellulosique au monde. Contrairement à l’éthanol de première génération, qui utilise les céréales comme le maïs comme matière première, l’éthanol cellulosique est produit à partir des déchets urbains et forestiers. Les gains énergétiques et en matière de gaz à effet de serre sont donc beaucoup plus intéressants. Les GES pourraient s'avérer de 80 % moins importants que ceux générés par l'essence. Les réductions seraient plutôt de 15 % dans le cas de l’éthanol fabriqué à partir de maïs, selon une analyse du cycle de vie.Enerkem produira cinq millions de litres d’éthanol par année dans sa nouvelle usine, dont les travaux de construction ont commencé en octobre 2007. Elle utilisera du « bois urbain », soit des anciens poteaux de téléphones qui ne peuvent être recyclés.L’entreprise peut compter sur plusieurs investisseurs, dont le Fonds de solidarité de la FTQ, Braemar Energy Ventures et Rho Ventures. Enerkem a recueilli des investissements totalisant 20 millions de dollars, ce montant incluant les subventions gouvernementales, explique Marie-Hélène Labrie, d’Enerkem. L’usine de Westbury devrait mobiliser 60 % (12 M$) de ces fonds. Le volume annuel de 5 millions de litres de cette usine sera dix fois plus important que celui du projet-pilote mis sur pied par Enerkem. A terme, l’usine pourrait produire 50 millions de litres d’éthanol cellulosique.L’entreprise serait en pourparlers avec différents partenaires afin de s’assurer un approvisionnement en résidus forestiers et en matières résiduelles, dont la ville de Sherbrooke.Rappelons que l’entreprise ontarienne Iogen construira une usine en Virginie, qui devrait posséder une capacité de production annuelle de 68 millions de litres d’éthanol cellulosique. Partiellement subventionné par le Département américain de l’Énergie, le projet sera réalisé en partenariat avec Goldman Sachs et Shell.Pour aller plus loin :www.enerkem.com Enerkem
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
Presentation Made to MNR Northeast Regional Advisory Committee
The following is a presentation made to the Northeast Regional Advisory Committee for the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources. The presentation was done on behalf of the Hearst Economic Development Corporation.
http://issuu.com/dsigouin/docs/regional_advisory_committee_presentation?mode=embed&documentId=080304211851-0b2ec88dfa744c97bdc8a6e453bca180&layout=grey
http://issuu.com/dsigouin/docs/regional_advisory_committee_presentation?mode=embed&documentId=080304211851-0b2ec88dfa744c97bdc8a6e453bca180&layout=grey
Monday, February 25, 2008
Shareholders and Noteholders approve the recapitalization transaction
MONTREAL, Feb. 22 /CNW Telbec/ - Tembec Inc. ("Tembec") announced todaythat the recapitalization transaction announced on December 19, 2007 andoutlined in the Management Proxy Circular dated January 25, 2008 (the"Recapitalization") has been approved by the requisite majority ofshareholders of Tembec ("Shareholders") and the requisite majority of holdersof notes of Tembec Industries Inc. ("Noteholders"). Earlier today, Tembec Inc. held a Special Meeting of Shareholders andTembec Industries Inc. held a Meeting of Noteholders (collectively, the"Meetings") at which votes were held on matters relating to the approval ofthe Recapitalization. The Meetings were held in accordance with the ManagementProxy Circular dated January 25, 2008 and, with respect to the Meeting ofNoteholders, an Order of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice (CommercialList) made on January 24, 2008. At the Special Meeting of Shareholders, all of the resolutions relatingto the approval of the Recapitalization were approved by in excess of 95.34%of Shareholders who voted in person or by proxy. At the Meeting ofNoteholders, all of the resolutions relating to the approval theRecapitalization were approved by in excess of 98.25% of Noteholders who votedin person or by proxy. "We are obviously pleased with the support shown by our shareholders andnoteholders in favor of the recapitalization transaction," said James Lopez,President and CEO of Tembec. "These approvals bring us one significant stepcloser towards the completion of the Recapitalization." Tembec also announced that it reached agreement, as described in moredetail in Tembec's management proxy circular, with Investissement Québec (IQ)and the Société générale de financement du Québec (SGF) in relation to theproposed recapitalization transaction. IQ and SGF currently own all of thepreferred shares of Tembec and IQ is also a lender to Tembec. The Plan of Arrangement relating to the recapitalization transaction issubject to approval of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice and such approvalhearing is being held on February 27, 2008. The recapitalization transactionis expected to close on February 29, 2008. Further information concerning the Recapitalization is available on SEDAR(www.sedar.com), EDGAR (www.sec.gov/edgar.shtml) and Tembec's website(www.tembec.com). Tembec is a large, diversified and integrated forest products companywhich stands as the global leader in sustainable forest management practices.With operations principally located in North America and in France, theCompany employs approximately 8,000 people. Tembec's common shares are listedon the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol TBC. Additional information onTembec is available on its website at www.tembec.com. This press release includes "forward-looking statements" with(lessthan)in the meaning of securities laws. Such statements relate to theCompany's or management's objectives, projections, estimates, expectations, orpredictions of the future and can be identified by words such as "will","anticipate", "estimate", "expect", and "project" or variations of such words.These statements are based on certain assumptions and analyses by the Companythat reflect its experience and its understanding of future developments. Suchstatements are subject to a number of uncertainties, including, but notlimited to, receipt of the approvals necessary to implement theRecapitalization, changes in foreign exchange rates, product selling prices,raw material and operating costs, and other factors identified in theCompany's periodic filings with securities regulatory authorities in Canadaand the United States. Many of these uncertainties are beyond the Company'scontrol and, therefore, may cause actual actions or results to differ fromthose expressed or implied herein. The Company disclaims any intention orobligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as aresult of new information, future events or otherwise. This press release is not an offer of securities for sale in the UnitedStates and securities may not be offered or sold in the United States absentregistration or exemption from registration.
For further information: Investor Contacts: Michel J. Dumas, Executive
Vice President, Finance and Chief Financial Officer, (819) 627-4268,
michel.dumas@tembec.com; BMO Capital Markets, Financial Advisor to Tembec,
(416) 359-5210, (866) 668-6211 (toll free); Media Contacts: John Valley,
Executive Vice President, Business Development and Corporate Affairs, (416)
775-2819, john.valley@tembec.com; Richard Fahey, Vice President,
Communications and Public Affairs, (819) 627-4387, richard.fahey@tembec.com
Vice President, Finance and Chief Financial Officer, (819) 627-4268,
michel.dumas@tembec.com; BMO Capital Markets, Financial Advisor to Tembec,
(416) 359-5210, (866) 668-6211 (toll free); Media Contacts: John Valley,
Executive Vice President, Business Development and Corporate Affairs, (416)
775-2819, john.valley@tembec.com; Richard Fahey, Vice President,
Communications and Public Affairs, (819) 627-4387, richard.fahey@tembec.com
Monday, February 18, 2008
PROVINCE INVESTS IN NEW FIRE BASE
HEARST — Ontario is constructing a new fire attack base in Hearst to increase protection for northern communities and forest resources.
Construction of the new $3.9-million fire base is scheduled to begin in early March and be completed in 2009. A brand new warehouse and office building will replace an existing facility and be built according to the principles of Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, including water and energy efficiency.
“Quick, effective response to forest fire emergencies safeguards northern residents and northern forests,” said Minister of Natural Resources Donna Cansfield. “This new facility will ensure better customer service and more efficient management of forest fires. The best part of this announcement is that our investment will help secure top-quality jobs and top-quality employees.”
The headquarters will house 22 seasonal firefighting staff and four fire operations staff. The new buildings will be built near the Ministry of Natural Resources Hearst District Office to allow greater efficiency and sharing of resources.
The project is part of ReNew Ontario, the McGuinty government's five-year, $30-billion-plus plan to upgrade Ontario's infrastructure.
“The McGuinty government’s ReNew Ontario and other, more recent investments have created nothing less than an infrastructure renaissance in Ontario,” said Public Infrastructure Renewal Minister David Caplan. “By modernizing our public infrastructure and building new facilities like this fire attack base, we are building a better Ontario.”
Construction of the new $3.9-million fire base is scheduled to begin in early March and be completed in 2009. A brand new warehouse and office building will replace an existing facility and be built according to the principles of Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, including water and energy efficiency.
“Quick, effective response to forest fire emergencies safeguards northern residents and northern forests,” said Minister of Natural Resources Donna Cansfield. “This new facility will ensure better customer service and more efficient management of forest fires. The best part of this announcement is that our investment will help secure top-quality jobs and top-quality employees.”
The headquarters will house 22 seasonal firefighting staff and four fire operations staff. The new buildings will be built near the Ministry of Natural Resources Hearst District Office to allow greater efficiency and sharing of resources.
The project is part of ReNew Ontario, the McGuinty government's five-year, $30-billion-plus plan to upgrade Ontario's infrastructure.
“The McGuinty government’s ReNew Ontario and other, more recent investments have created nothing less than an infrastructure renaissance in Ontario,” said Public Infrastructure Renewal Minister David Caplan. “By modernizing our public infrastructure and building new facilities like this fire attack base, we are building a better Ontario.”
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